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| The bodies of the migrants had to be brought ashore on a shipping container |
THIS is the moment overwhelmed rescue teams had to use a SHIPPING CONTAINER to bring the dead bodies of Europe-bound migrants to shore in Sicily.
So many people died in the latest Mediterranean tragedy that their coffins could not be unloaded individually by the overstretched authorities.
Instead, they were packed into a huge shipping container and were winched onto the back of a lorry to be taken away for burial.
In total 49 migrants died in the hold of a rickety fishing boat yesterday after most likely suffocating from exhaust fumes.
A further 312 were rescued from the ship by the Italian navy and were taken to processing centres in the Sicilian port of Catania.
The town's deputy mayor, Marco Consoli, said its traditional fireworks display would be scrapped and replaced with the release of 49 white balloons as a mark of respect for the dead.
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| There were too many bodies to unload the coffins one by one |
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| More than 300 people were saved from a stricken fishing vessel in the Mediterranean |
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| Thousands of migrants have died trying to make the perilous crossing |
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| A young boy is consoled by rescuers in Sicily |
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| Migrants arrive in a dinghy on a beach at Kos |
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| Police and migrants have clashed on the paradise tourist island |
They were the victims of a European migrant crisis which is fast running out of control, and died on the same day that migrants and riot police openly clashed on the Greek holiday island of Kos.
Tempers spilled over as hundreds of would-be refugees queued in the blistering heat outside a police station, hoping to gain the papers that will allow them to travel onwards to mainland Europe.
Locals infuriated by the migrant influx, which is crushing the island's usually booming tourist trade, shouted angrily at the crowd, forcing the police to intervene.
The island, just off the coast of Turkey, has become a magnet for migrants hoping to travel onwards to western Europe and eventually Britain. However, authorities there have been completely overwhelmed by the influx, with many people being detained in squalid and inhumane camps where there are severe shortages of food and water.
At least five more people including a baby drowned today trying to make the perilous journey between Turkey and Kos.
Turkish coast guards unloaded five body bags at the harbour of the tourist town of Bodrum, which is popular with holidaying Britons.
They also rescued around 20 migrants after the smugglers' boat they were on got into difficulty just off the Turkish coast.
Ayberk Olcay of the Bodrum Sea Rescue Association, who was involved in the rescue operation, said a baby's body was amongst those recovered.
Meanwhile in southern Italy a Croatian coast guard boat working as part of the European Triton rescue mission brought ashore 354 migrants who were crammed onto a crowded fishing boat.
Italian Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said that 103,000 migrants have now been rescued at sea and brought to Italy in operations coordinated by the Italian coast guard since January.
Along with other migrants landing in Spain and Malta, that means more than 243,000 people have crossed the Mediterranean already this year, compared to 219,000 for all of 2014.
Of those 134,988 have made the short hop from Turkey to Greece, which has been overwhelmed by the influx at a time of economic turmoil.
The International Organization for Migration estimates that at least 2,300 people have died this year trying to cross to Europe.
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