Shipwreck in which more than 900 migrants are feared drowned is 'most catastrophic maritime tragedy since World War Two' 

• Hundreds of people are feared dead after boat capsizes in Mediterranean
• Boat carrying migrants sank off the Libyan coast just after midnight
• So far 24 confirmed dead and just 28 people have been saved
• Third major shipwreck involving migrants trying to cross sea this week 

By Sara Malm for MailOnline and Hannah Roberts for MailOnline In Rome

Published: 02:51 EST, 19 April 2015 | Updated: 14:52 EST, 19 April 2015

More than 900 people are feared dead after a boat carrying migrants capsized in the Mediterranean sea overnight - making it one of the worst maritime disaster since the end of World War II.

So far 24 bodies have been recovered from the sea and 28 people have been rescued following the incident, which took place off Libyan waters, south of the southern Italian island of Lampedusa, just after midnight on Sunday.

Among the corpses was the body of a boy aged between 10 and 15, who was discovered face down in a pool of oil, rescuers said.   

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A handout picture, provided by Guardia di Finanza, shows a Ifra-red camera screen shot during an operation to rescue migrants after their wreckship in Strait of Sicily. It is not known exactly how many people were onboard

People are spotted clinging to the top of the capsized boat, while others are struggling in the water. It is feared hundreds of migrants have drowned after the vessel toppled, and a huge rescue operation is still taking place

The Italian Coast Guard (pictured) is coordinating the rescue operation, now involving dozens of navy and merchant vessels from Italy and Malta. 24 people have already been confirmed dead and just 28 people saved

Personnel at work in the operations room of the Italian Coast Guard in Rome, who are coordinating efforts to try to find survivors of the tragedy. It is thought to have been one of the worst maritime disasters since WWII

The 66-foot fishing boat went down after passengers moved to one side of the vessel to signal to a passing Portuguese merchant ship, and it overturned. 

Authorities fear there could have been as many as 950 migrants on board, according to Italian news agency ANSA. The boat initially set off from Egypt and then stopped off on the Libyan coast near the city Zuwarah to pick up more passengers, it reported. 

One survivor told rescuers there was 700 people on board, but the Coast Guard said there was no immediate way of finding out exactly how many passengers were on the boat or how many might still be rescued.

General Antonino Iraso of the Italian Guardia Finanza police, which is involved in the rescue attempt, said that if the numbers were confirmed it would be the worst shipping disaster since the Second World War. 

A rescuer said one of their first discoveries was the body of a boy, no older than 15.

'The boy was one of the first that we recovered, face down in a pool of oil', they said. 

'We have not found anything since 10am this morning. There's only oil and debris.'

A rescue operation coordinated by the Italian coast guard involving 18 ships is still underway in the hopes of rescuing more people from the midnight sinking off the Libyan coast, 120 miles south of the Italian island of Lampedusa.

Prime Minister of Italy (right) Matteo Renzi has asked for an extraordinary meeting of EU leaders after the incident. 'Italy asks not to be left on its own' he said, as he described the trafficking of people as a 'slave trade'

The infra-red camera shows rescuers trying to locate survivors in the water. It is thought the boat, heading towards Malta, capsized when passengers moved to one side of the vessel which lead it to overturn

Wreckage of the boat - which is was sailing towards Malta - was spotted in the sea, including life jackets. large fuel stains and pieces of wood.

The total number of passengers was expected to be clarified as authorities interview survivors.

Given that the sea is as deep as 3 miles (5 kilometres) or more in the area, it is possible that many bodies will never be recovered, as was the case in similar tragedies off the coasts of Libya, Italy, and other Mediterranean nations in recent years.

Senior political figures across Europe are now calling for action to combat the increasingly deadly migrant crisis in the Mediterranean sea.

Rescuers say they saw large fuel stains and life jackets floating in the water as they hunted for survivors

Saviors: This image released by the Italian Coast Guards today shows rescuers take part in the operation off the coast of Sicily to look for survivors in the wake of the shipwreck

Pope Francis led tributes to the victims of the disaster. He expressed his 'deepest pain' at the tragedy and urged the international community to take action to stop migrants dying as they try to reach Europe

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said Europe was witnessing 'systematic slaughter in the Mediterranean', and said he has now asked for an extraordinary meeting of EU leaders. 

'How can we remain insensible when we're witnessing entire populations dying at a time when modern means of communications allow us to be aware of everything?' Renzi said at a political event in Mantua.

‘Italy asks not to be left on its own and so I request as soon as possible an extraordinary meeting of the EU council', he added.

'The trafficking of migrants amounted to ‘a new slave trade’. We must all fight against human traffickers that are the slavers of the 21st century.'

'We are not talking about statistics but our brothers and sisters and of human lives'.

Leader of Italy's anti-immigration Northern League party Matteo Salvini called for boats to be blocked from departing from Libya: 'This is the umpteenth tragedy. Nothing has changed since the disaster of Lampedusa. Do we need another 700 people to die before we block the crossings?

'Genuine refugees should be brought to the EU countries that can host them by plane. We must go there and help the desperate ones who are fleeing wars, on the ground, in Libya, Tunisia, Morocco and bring them to the 29 countries of the EU by plane. If we block the departures we prevent the deaths. '

Italian authorities are organising the rescue mission. It is feared the number of people drowned in the incident could run into the hundreds. Anti-immigration parties in Italy have called for the crossings to be blocked off 

Authorities say there is no immediate way of knowing exactly how many people were on board, but it is thought there could have been 700 migrants. It is possible many of the bodies will never be recovered 

Relief workers stand around a group of migrants as they wait to be 'processed' at the quayside (stock image). Italian Prime Minister Mattoe Renzi said Europe was seeing 'systematic slaughter in the Mediterranean'

Pope Francis held a moment of prayer for the victims. He said: 'A boat packed with migrants capsized 70 miles off the coast of Libya. They fear hundreds of victims.

'I express my deepest pain in the face of the tragedy. I appeal to the international community to act quickly and decisively to avoid repeating similar tragedies. They are men and women like us, our brothers who search for a better life, persecuted, injured, exploited, victims of war, searching for a better life, searching for happiness.'

'A tragedy is unfolding in the Mediterranean, and if the EU and the world continue to close their eyes, it will be judged in the harshest terms as it was judged in the past when it closed its eyes to genocides when the comfortable did nothing,' Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said. 

This is the third major shipwreck involving migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean this week, and a further 400 migrants are feared to have drowned in the other incidents (stock image)

In 2013, the Italian government initiated the search-and-rescue operation Mare Nostrum after hundreds drowned in an incident off the coast of Lampedusa.

The operation was cancelled last year after the government failing to persuade fellow EU members to help meet its operating costs of nine million euros (£6.5million)

It was also argued that Mare Nostrum was unintentionally encouraging migrants to attempt the crossing as they were 'guaranteed' to be rescued. 

It has since been partially replaced by the EU-run Triton operation. 

However Triton, which has a much smaller budget and narrower remit, has been criticised by humanitarian groups and Italy as inadequate to tackle the scale of the problem. 

The UN has now called for EU countries to do more, with refugee agency UNHCR spokesman Carlotta Sami urging the creation of a European version of the Mare Nostrum search and rescue mission.  

FARAGE: 'BRITAIN SHOULD ONLY LET IN CHRISTIANS FLEEING LIBYA'

Ukip leader Nigel Farage said the UK should only accept Christian refugees

Nigel Farage today claimed Britain should only accept refugees who are Christian.

The Ukip leader risked being accused of discriminating on the basis of religion, as he suggested living in Libya is now 'virtually impossible' for Christians.

He also claimed David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy's 'fanaticism' in bombing Libya directly caused the problem of migrant tragedies at sea.

Mr Farage said the 2011 military action completely destabilised the north African country and turned it into a place of 'much savagery'. 

The Ukip leader was challenged over whether his anti-EU stance was at odds with the need for a pan-European solution to the crisis of refugees fleeing north Africa.

But he told BBC1's Sunday Politics: 'It's the European response that caused this problem in the first place.

'The fanaticism of (former French president) Sarkozy and (Prime Minister) Cameron to bomb Libya ... what they've done is to completely destabilise Libya, to turn it into a country with much savagery, to turn it into a place where for Christians the situation is now virtually impossible. We ought to be honest and say we have directly caused this problem.'

Asked if no migrants attempted to enter Europe by crossing the Mediterranean Sea before military action in Libya, Mr Farage said:

'There were no migrants coming across from Libya in these quantities before we bombed the country, got rid of (then Libyan leader Muammar) Gaddafi - however bad he may have been - and destabilised the whole situation, of that I have no doubt.

'But I'm the one person who has said that I do think, especially for Christians in that part of the world, they now have almost nowhere to go.

'I have not got a problem with us offering refugee status to some Christians from those countries.'

She said: ‘We need a European Mare Nostrum to combat the tragedies of the immigrants in the sea. We have asked for one for more than a year and we have not had an answer.

‘If the numbers of the tragedy are confirmed the total number of people who have died in the Mediterranean in the last ten days will be more than 1,000.’

‘Today’s is a tragedy of enormous proportions, a catastrophe on a scale never seen before in the Mediterranean which confirms the necessity of a European intervention to put in place adequate rescue measures.’

‘We are shocked because in the past two days we have seen events of a brutality that we have never seen before. There has been a leap in the cruelty on the part of the traffickers.’

Britain's Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper echoed the calls and called the incident a 'dreadful and distressing tragedy.

'The British Government must immediately reverse its opposition to EU search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean, as the EU needs to restart the rescue as soon as possible', she said.

'It is immoral to turn our backs and leave people to drown in order to deter other desperate travellers - and of course it hasn't worked. 

'Since the operations were cancelled even more people have tried to cross the Mediterranean, and thousands have died.

'The EU should do the basic, humanitarian thing and rescue those in peril on the sea.' 

The fishing vessel involved in today's disaster had send out an emergency call after having trouble with steering the vessel, and a Portuguese merchant ship arrived at the scene.

As it approached, dozens of people moved from one side of the vessel to the other, and it capsized, Italian news bureau Ansa reports.

Loris De Filippi of Medecins Sans Frontieres said EU states were culpable for the tragedy. He said: 'A mass grave is being created in the Mediterranean Sea and European policies are responsible.

'Faced with thousands of desperate people fleeing wars and crises, Europe has closed borders, forcing people in search of protection to risk their lives and die at sea.

He said the number of casualties was comparable to 'a warzone'. 

'European States must immediately launch large-scale search and rescue operations, with proactive patrolling as close as possible to Libyan shores. 

'The current means are obviously not enough. This tragedy is only just beginning, but it can and should be stopped.' 

So far, 10,000 migrants have been rescued by the Italian coast guard, navy and merchant vessels this week - an unprecedented number.

The influx of migrants, mainly from Africa attempting to cross the sea from Libya, is putting pressure on Italy's shelter system and raising calls for a better response to the emergency.

Italy has arrested 976 traffickers since its search and rescue operations began. 

Yesterday, the International Organization for Migration said the rate of migrant and refugee deaths this year is ten times higher than in 2014, even though the number of those who made it across safely is about the same. 

The agency put arrivals so far this year in Italy through Thursday at 21,191. That compares with 26,644 for the first four months of last year.

'This is unacceptable,' said Federico Soda, director of the IOM coordination office for the Mediterranean, calling for more intensive search and rescue efforts. 'This is a humanitarian emergency that involves us all.'

Greece, the EU's second-biggest gateway for migrants after Italy, appealed to its European Union partners Friday for more help in policing its sea borders as immigrants increasingly make dangerous journeys to escape war and poverty in the Middle East and Africa.

Small baby among the migrants rescued in Sicily's Palermo

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