ROME — The Italian police on Thursday charged 15 Muslim men with homicide aggravated by religious hatred after survivors of a migrant boat rescued in the Mediterranean told investigators that the men had menaced Christians on board and thrown a dozen Christians overboard to their deaths.

The arrests were made in Palermo, Sicily, where the police interviewed survivors from a smuggling ship that had departed from the coast of Libya en route to Europe. In a statement, the Palermo police offered few details but said an argument had broken out on the ship. The assailants, provoked by religious hatred, then tossed 12 Christians overboard, the police said.

The victims came from Ghana and Nigeria, the police said, while the accused are from Ivory Coast, Mali and Senegal. The police based the charges on interviews with 10 survivors who were brought to Palermo on Wednesday among a group of 100 migrants rescued in the Mediterranean.

Michele Prosperi, a spokesman in Italy for Save the Children, confirmed that members of his organization had interviewed survivors after they arrived at the port of Palermo, but he declined to comment on the group’s findings.