More than 200 bodies of migrants have been recovered from the wreck of a boat that capsized in the Mediterranean in April 2015, killing around 500 people, The Italian Navy has said.
The Navy pulled 217 bodies from the wreckage that was thought to have suck with around 700 on board.
The sinking was one of the worst known disasters involving migrants trying to reach Europe by sea.
Thousands of people attempt to get to Europe each year by crossing the dangerous waters of the Mediterranean in unseaworthy vessels, many of them fleeing the war in the Middle East.
In 2015, at least 3,770 people are thought to have died on Mediterranean routes, mostly by drowning when their boats capsized.
The vessel was pulled of the seabed and taken to a naval site in southeastern Sicily last week.
Originally at least 700 people were thought to have died in the disaster, based on survivor testimony. A Navy official said last week he thought some 300 bodies were still in the hold, which added to 169 recovered from the nearby seabed would bring the death toll closer to 500.
Autopsies have been carried out on 52 of the victims, and police scientists coordinated by a local public prosecutor have begun making reports on their findings.
