A 16-year-old Iraqi girl was raped and murdered in front of her mother on a sinking migrant sailboat off the coast of Italy, according to Italian news agency AGI.

Italian police arrested the suspect, a 27-year-old Iraqi man, and are holding him in Catanzaro.

The sailboat, believed to be carrying around 70 migrants including over 20 children, was traveling from Iran, Syria, and Iraq when its engine exploded and it began to sink. Only 12 people were rescued.

Survivors reported to aid workers that they were traveling without life jackets and some passing boats did not assist them.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) reported that the bodies of 15 children were found among those who perished at sea.

Separately, security forces in the Kurdistan region of Iraq arrested four people suspected of involvement in the sinking of the vessel.

NGOs and families of the victims reported that the sailboat was primarily carrying Kurdish migrants from Iraq and Iran, along with Afghan families.