The Vatican 15 Jan (ANA) - Pope Francis has demanded that every possible measure be taken to protect young refugees after a migrant ship sunk with four survivors out of an estimated 100 people aboard. Francis was marking the Roman Catholic Church's World Day Of Migrants a day after the latest Mediterranean migrant ship disaster. Italy's coastguard said only four people survived the sinking off the coast of Libya on Saturday, and only eight bodies have been recovered, although search and recovery efforts continued. In his noon blessing, Francis recalled that the theme of this year's migrant day message concerned the vulnerability of young migrants, "our young brothers" who often flee home alone and face "so many dangers." He said: "We must adopt every possible measure to guarantee young migrants' protection and defence, as well as integration." ​The Italian Navy was searching for survivors from the vessel, which was believed to be carrying up to 110 people. Only four survivors were pulled from the water, with at least eight bodies found so far. Flavio Di Giacomo, from the International Organisation for Migration, told The Independent newspaper in London around 106 people were thought to have died and described the conditions at sea as "extremely bad". The boat went down in waters between Libya and Italy, which has become the deadliest sea crossing in the world since the start of the refugee crisis. It claimed the vast majority of more than 5,000 lives lost in treacherous boat journeys to Europe in 2016, the deadliest year on record, with people drowning or being crushed or suffocated in overcrowded smugglers' boats. Saturday's disaster was the worst single incident so far this year, which has already seen at least 122 deaths at sea.(ANA)

FA/ANA/15 Janauary 2017-----