At least 130 people have died and hundreds others are missing following a boat tragedy near the Italian island of Lampedusa.
The boat, carrying up to 500 Africans, caught fire and sank off Italian shores in the worst such disaster in the Mediterranean in recent times.
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Those on board the boat had been travelling from countries including Eritrea and Somalia.
Their boat began taking on water near the island of Lampedusa.
They then set fire to a blanket on the boat to attract the attention of coast guards after passing fishing boats ignored them.
A government health commissioner, Antonio Candela, says the fire spread quickly.
"The first witnesses say the boat caught fire and, because of this, everyone pushed forward and caused the boat to overturn and hundreds of people ended up in the sea."
Visibly shaken survivors in thermal blankets were seen on the dock and then were treated at hospital, where officials said many had swallowed gasoline and seawater.
The bodies were being taken to a hangar at the local airport because there was no more room in the morgue on the remote island of around six thousand people.
Lampedusa is one of the biggest entry points for asylum seekers into the European Union.
Thousands arrive every year from impoverished and conflict-riven parts of Africa and the Middle East, often after perilous journeys on overcrowded wooden fishing boats.
Pope Francis had recently visited the island, where he called for a more compassionate approach.
He spoke again on the issue after the news of the deaths.
"The word that comes to mind is disgrace. It's a disgrace. Let's work together to ensure tragedies like this are not repeated."
The United Nations estimates around 20,000 people have died trying to cross to Europe since the late 1990s.
In 2011 alone, 50,000 people landed on Lampedusa at the height of the revolts in North Africa.
Most of the boats come from Libya, where the security situation remains fragile, and the rest come mostly from Tunisia.
Italy's Prime Minister Enrico Letta has urged Libya to reinforce its maritime border controls, and Italy is helping the security forces there step up checks along its land border.
But United Nations High Commissoner for Refugees spokesman Laurens Holls has told the BBC that, as long as poverty and war continue in Africa, the issue will remain.
"The flows will continue to come from sub-Saharan Africa, from the Horn of Africa, and from Syria also, of course, because that is also happening. And unless the local conflicts and the situations of insecurity and persecution can be stopped, this is likely to continue."
Locals on the island have repeatedly rallied to help in desperate situations, like in May 2011, when they rescued 528 people from a boat that crashed offshore.
The local authorities complain they do not receive enough assistance from the government.
Lampedusa mayor Giusi Nicolini says the issue is now at least the centre of international attention.
"With the visit of the Pontiff, of course, something changed here, because now everybody knows what is going on here. He has made visible this tragedy, which was invisible. Unfortunately, today is a landmark day. These bodies are all speaking. We need to stop this."
The Jesuit Refugee Services organisation, based in Rome, is calling on European authorities to take action to prevent such deaths.
Its international communications coordinator, James Stapleton, says much more needs to be done to accommodate for what he says is the next influx of refugees.
"We know that more Syrians are going to start coming over, because the situation has got so bad in the region, Lebanon is now hosting 1 million refugees, and has a population of 4 million Lebanese, 1 million refugees, it's unsustainable, the situation is getting difficult in other countries in the region and European governments and Europe needs to do more, otherwise more people will lose their lives."
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