POPE FRANCIS described as "shameful" the fatal accident on
Thursday in which a boat carrying as many as 500 African migrants
to the southern Italian island of Lampedusa sank.Addressing a conference in the Vatican on Thursday, he asked everyone to "renew our efforts to ensure that such tragedies are not to be repeated".
At least 130 people died as the boat, travelling from Misrata, in Libya, sank approximately half a mile from the shore.
Passengers reportedly started a fire on board in an attempt to attract the attention of coastguards, after the boat suffered engine-failure and began taking in water.
On Friday, at least 130 of the migrants were confirmed dead, and 200 were unaccounted for.
More than 150 people had been rescued.
On a day-long pilgrimage on Friday to Assisi to visit sites associated with St Francis, the Pope condemned current global treatment of refugees.
The world "does not care about the many people fleeing slavery, hunger, fleeing in search of freedom. And how many of them die, as happened yesterday! Today is a day of tears," he said.
The Italian government declared Friday a national day of mourning, and schools observed a minute's silence. Rescue workers continued to search Sicilian waters for survivors.
The Mayor of Lampedusa, Giusi Nicolini, said: "It is horrific, like a cemetery. They are still bringing them out."
The Italian deputy prime minister, Angelo Alfano, said at a press conference in Rome that the accident illustrated that Europe need to assist in dealing with the ongoing influx of refugees. He said that this was "a European tragedy, not just an Italian one".
The UN reported that most of the migrants on the boat were from Eritrea and Somalia.
The High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres, commended the swift action of the Italian coastguard to save lives. Mr Guterres expressed his dismay at the rising number of people who perished at sea in attempts to flee from conflict or persecution.
This was the second fatal accident causing migrants' deaths off Italy's coast.
On Monday, the bodies of 13 Eritrean men were washed up on a Sicilian beach, after the men attempted to swim ashore when their ship ran aground.
Pope Francis chose Lampedusa for his first official visit outside Rome, at the beginning of July.
He said then that each time he heard of immigrants dying at sea, the thought of a way of hope ending in a way of death "always returns as a thorn in the heart".