The child's lifeless body was retrieved near Lampedusa by an Italian vessel on July 13 after attempting to cross the Mediterranean on a rickety boat with his mother.

His lifeless body was transported via the Dattilo, an Italian coast guard ship, with survivors of the wreck to the port of Reggio Calabria in southern Italy.

Mother in shock

The child is believed to be from Nigeria. His mother was rescued from the shipwreck in a state of shock. The prefecture of Reggio Calabria has provided her with psychological support.

Volunteers and security forces in charge of welcoming new arrivals were shocked to learn about the boy's death soon after the Dattilo reached Reggio.

Coast guard crew members warned the police, carried out controls on the other passengers and informed judicial authorities.

'I lost my wife in the desert and my son at sea'

The hotspot of Lampedusa is currently hosting thousands of people as arrivals to Italy ramp up with the warm weather.

A man from Sierra Leone spoke with healthcare workers and volunteers in Palermo about his tragic journey.

"I lost my wife while crossing the desert and a child at sea," Jamid Sahid Mansaré, 34, told 118 emergency personnel and cultural mediators at the Civic Hospital in Palermo, Sicily. "If you find a drowned child, it's my son".

"Five of us left, my wife and three children, two boys and a girl. Now only three of us are left and it has been terrible. An inhuman journey. I was able to save my son and my daughter. Unfortunately, the youngest drowned. Please, let me know if you find the body. I want my son back", he told rescuers in English.