Mediterranean migrants crisis: Funerals held in Malta for sinking victims

The 24 men laid to rest here were mourned, even though their names are unknown.
Their plain, dark wood coffins were slowly carried from the hospital mortuary on the shoulders of members of Malta's armed forces, along a route lined with bouquets of flowers.
Migrants who themselves made the perilous journey across the Mediterranean Sea in search of a better life joined Maltese government officials and international representatives in a white marquee erected on the helicopter pad outside Valletta's Mater Dei hospital.

As the coffins were set down on a red carpet, women from Somalia, Eritrea and other parts of Sub-Saharan Africa wept openly, wiping away tears with their headscarves.
During a 45-minute service of remembrance, the Bishop of Gozo, Monsignor Mario Grech, and Imam Mohammed El Sadi read extracts from the Bible and the Koran.
Imam El Sadi said all those who had died were brothers before God. He told the congregation that all people were migrants and that life was a journey.
Monsignor Grech said the men were fellow human beings, regardless of creed, nationality or race.
With no known families to return their remains to, the men will be buried in common graves in Malta's Addolorata Cemetery.