The Jesuit Refugee Service has called for the restoration of search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean following drowning of 150 people in a shipwreck on Thursday.

“The people we serve are those made destitute by the asylum process." – Sarah Teather, former MP and director of JRS in Britain.

It is reported that among the 20 feared dead, some were crushed by other people in the boat, while others drowned at sea. The victims include a child, women and some men – mostly from Nigeria, the Ivory Coast and reportedly from Bangladesh.

Former MP and UK Minister of State for Children and Families to talk about how faith prompted her to leave politics and work instead for the Jesuit Refugee Service.

In 2015 service helped almost three quarters of a million refugees.

Jesuit Refugee Service calls on the Government to provide funding and support to help them transition to life outside Direct Provision.

17 priests, one religious brother, six religious women, a seminarian and a lay person died violently or succumbed to Ebola.