Newly released photos show the scene soon after a boat carrying up to 700 migrants and potential refugees capsized off the coast of Libya on Wednesday.
In the photos, distributed by the Italian police, dozens of passengers can be seen swimming for their lives. Irish and Italian boats — along with Doctors Without Borders — initially responded to the distress call, according to AFP.
Irish authorities reported that they had rescued 367 people from the sea, including 12 women and 13 children. Twenty-five bodies were recovered from the water, leaving some 200 migrants as presumed drowned.
More than 2,000 people have already died this year alone attempting to make the voyage from North Africa to Europe, according to the International Organization for Migration, making 2015 on pace to be the deadliest year on record.
So far European Union efforts to target the captains of the migrant ships, often overpacked far beyond their capacity, have failed to stem the tide.
