Divers began the recovery of dozens of migrants’ bodies yesterday from a boat that sank last week off the coast of Sicily in one of the worst such disasters to hit people fleeing violence, poverty and oppression in Africa.

An Italian government minister born in Africa watched wordlessly today as soldiers wearing face masks carried body bags containing migrants from her continent who perished when a fishing boat sank within sight of the tiny island of Lampedusa.

Divers are resuming the search for bodies from a fiery shipwreck of a fishing boat packed with 500 migrants from Eritrea.

The search to recover bodies from a fishing boat that sank off the southern Italian island of Lampedusa has been called off for a second day because of bad weather.