Malta to bury 24 victims of latest shipwreck tragedy

A rescuer cradles a child in the Sicilian harbor of Pozzallo, Italy, early Monday, April 20, 2015. About 100 migrants, including 28 children, were rescued on Sunday by a merchant vessel in the Sicilian Strait while they were trying to cross. Another smuggler's boat crammed with hundreds of people overturned off Libya's coast on Saturday as rescuers approached, causing what could be the Mediterranean's deadliest known migrant tragedy and intensifying pressure on the European Union Sunday to finally meet demands for decisive action. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino) A rescuer cradles a child in the Sicilian harbor of Pozzallo, Italy, early Monday, April 20, 2015. About 100 migrants, including 28 children, were rescued on Sunday by a merchant vessel in the Sicilian Strait while they were trying to cross. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

The Maltese army says an Italian coast guard ship has brought to Malta the bodies of 24 victims of what could be the Mediterranean’s deadliest migrant tragedy.

The coast guard ship Gregoretti dropped off the bodies early Monday and was continuing on to Sicily with 28 survivors of this weekend’s shipwreck near the Libyan coast that may have claimed as many as 900 lives. The dead will be buried in Malta.

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One survivor who has already been brought to the Sicilian city of Catania has told prosecutors that there were 950 people on board the ship when it sank.

The International Organization for Migration said that the survivor is a 32-year-old Bangladeshi. It said the information he provided prosecutors still needs to be confirmed.

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