Hundreds drown as boat capsizes between Egypt and Italy

More than 400 people are feared to have drowned in the Mediterranean Sea while trying to reach Europe after their boat capsized off the coast of Egypt.

Most of those aboard were fleeing from Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea, hoping to reach Italy, and were travelling in four rickety boats, BBC Arabic reported.

The Somali embassy in Cairo is trying to verify the reports, which have not yet been verified. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has also not yet confirmed the fatalities. 

"The Mediterranean is a mass grave," tweeted Medecins Sans Frontieres.

The refugee crisis has been labelled the worst humanitarian disaster since the Second World War, and has sparked fierce disagreements between EU members, bringing the bloc's system of open borders to the brink of collapse.

More than one million people crossed clandestinely from Turkey to Greece in 2015 and some 150,000 have made the trip since the start of this year, with over 700 dying while trying to do so.

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The latest tragedy at sea comes as Pope Francis visited the Greek island of Lesbos with a message of hope for those seeking asylum in Europe, 12 of whom he took home with him to the Vatican.

His one-day trip to Europe's migration hotspot culminated dramatically when three Syrian refugee families, all Muslim, returned with the pontiff to Rome

Declaring "we are all migrants", the pope told reporters that his gesture was "a drop in the ocean" but hoped that afterwards, "the ocean will never be the same again".

"All refugees are children of God," he said aboard the papal plane on its flight back to Rome.

The departure of the 12 refugees, who will be housed by the Vatican, was the climax of an emotional visit that saw migrants kneeling in tears before the 79-year-old Roman Catholic leader.

"You are not alone... do not lose hope," the pope, who was accompanied by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Archbishop Ieronymos, the head of the Church of Greece, said at the Moria registration centre, where around 3,000 migrants are being held.