Body bags containing the 24 corpses of refugees who drowned after a smuggler's boat sank off Libya have arrived in Malta.
The Italian coast guard vessel Bruno Gregoracci docked at Boiler Wharf in Valletta's Grand Harbour on Monday, with the victims of the Mediterranean tragedy laid out on its deck.
The bodies were then carried into waiting hearses to be transferred to a morgue. Survivors of the disaster were also on board the Italian vessel.
Officials say at least 700 people are feared to have died after the boat capsized and sank, but Italian prosecutors - citing a survivor - say as many as 950 migrants may have been on board.
The Bangladeshi survivor told Italian authorities that hundreds of people had been locked in the hold of the vessel by smugglers.
Only 28 people have been pulled from the Mediterranean alive.
It is believed the vessel overturned when migrants moved from one side of the boat in a bid to get off and be rescued by an approaching merchant ship.
Italian and Maltese navy boats have continued to scour the waters off Libya for more survivors.
It comes as EU foreign ministers are set to meet in Luxembourg to discuss the growing crisis of refugee deaths in the Mediterranean. The number of people killed among those seeking refuge in Europe has risen to 1,500 this year alone.
Journalist Mary Fitzgerald told the Pat Kenny Show here on Newstalk that the EU must work with Libya if the crisis is to be tackled.
EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said: "... it was our moral duty to concentrate our responsibility as Europeans to prevent these kind of tragedies from happening again and again."
"We must build a common sense of European responsibility... knowing that there is no easy solution, no magic solution."
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has described the crisis as a "plague in our continent".
"Our priority is human dignity, as well as national security, to stop the trafficking of human beings. The new slave drivers cannot think that Europe considers this a second-rate problem" he added.
So far in 2015, 35k+ #refugees and migrants have crossed #Mediterranean with 1600 deaths. 2014: 219K crossings & 3500 deaths
— UNHCR Ireland (@UNHCRIreland) April 20, 2015
MSF is to launch a rescue boat in May in an effort to rescue migrants. Jane-Ann McKenna is the director of its Irish office.
Sky News correspondent Enda Brady spoke to Newstalk Breakfast from Palermo earlier about the tragedy. The latest figures stated that 950 people were on the boat that sank over the weekend.
