The Italian police on Saturday said they arrested an Egyptian human trafficker, wanted for organizing a dangerous migration journey that involved 287 migrants setting from Libya.

According to the Italian authorities, the migrants were suffering from brutal weather conditions when the Coast Guard rescued them on January 25, confirming that seven of them lost their lives to hypothermia..

The police of Agrigento in Sicily said in a statement that the migrants were packed onboard a 16-meter boat in inhuman conditions.

"The victims who were Bangladeshi nationals died as a result of hypothermia due to the inhumane conditions of the voyage."

The 38-year-old smuggler, identified by survivors, had previously been sentenced for human smuggling in 2011, according to the Italian police.