The bodies of 24 people who were plucked from the sea after the boat they were on capsized in the middle of the Mediterranean were laid to rest yesterday after a multi-faith ceremony at Mater Dei hospital.

Gozo bishop Mario Grech led part of the ceremony and summed it up perfectly. He said 24 coffins containing the bodies of 24 people were laid out. He said that we neither know their names, nor their creed, but the truth is that many more who were in search of a better life lay dead at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea.

Many answered the call to send flowers to remember those who perished and bouquets and wreaths lined the road to where the service was held. On Wednesday night, many people – Maltese, foreign residents and Africans – took part in a peace march to remember the dead.

It is clear that there has been a shift. Just like in any society, there will always be fringe elements who embarrass us as a people and a nation in their xenophobic and racist ideals. But it seems that last week’s tragedy has woken the collective conscience of people in Malta and to a lesser degree, the people of Europe.

The conversations of street corners have changed in tone and content as people try to relive and imagine the terror as hundreds of people locked in the miserable hold of a ship drowned. There is more compassion and more will to understand the plight of these people, where they came from and what they were fleeing.

The foreign media also turned up to cover the event, and by and large, praise was showered on Malta and its people for showing compassion and the will to give the victims a dignified funeral and to remember them as people. But this is not what yesterday’s ceremony and Wednesday’s peace march was about. It is about remembering that those who died are people, individuals with hopes, aspirations and fears. They are people who were loved by their mothers, fathers, wives, husbands and children.

They had names. They had beliefs. They had skills and they had feelings.  Imam El Sadi also led part of the ceremony and said that all are brothers before God and that all people are migrants and that life was but a journey.  What had happened, he said, should raise awareness, and he went on to ask whether enough was being done to help the migrants at sea.

It is clear that Malta and Italy are doing what they can, but not enough is being done by other European member states. At the time of writing, the extraordinary European Union summit was still in session and while some progress was registered, it seems that we are still a long way off what is needed to save more lives at sea.

We hope that Europe will eventually come round and realise that more naval assets are needed in The Mediterranean Sea to save lives. But we also hope that this was not just a flurry of superficial concern and that concrete action will be taken to stop people drowning on rickety and unseaworthy vessels.