Two cargo boats with a total of more than 1,200 migrants on board were abandoned and left to drift dangerously in the Mediterranean this week - a relatively new tactic by people smugglers.
The Italian authorities did eventually manage to board both vessels - one a cargo ship, the other a cattle transport - and rescue the passengers.
But many migrants who make the ruinously expensive and risky attempt to enter Europe illegally aren't so lucky, and die in the attempt.
Among Time Magazine's top ten photographs of 2014 is an astonishing image.
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