Drowned migrant child photographer says he helped rescuers

German photographer Christian Büttner says that he and colleagues were so in awe of the work being done by rescuers in the Mediterranean that they joined the crew in helping pull the bodies of refugees from the water.

Mr Büttner took the photograph of a drowned migrant baby in the arms of a German rescuer that has since been seen on media around the world.

The infant, who appeared to be no more than a year old, was pulled from the sea between Libya and Italy by a rescuer simply known as Martin who works with the German humanitarian organisation Sea-Watch.

The photographer told Newstalk Breakfast that they had no information on the infant or his family.

“The other refugees who had been on the boat that sank were gone.”

He said that the photographers were so in awe of the people working on the boats that they wanted to assist in pulling bodies from the sea.

“I never thought I’d be doing that work, but we had to help.

“As we were going around and seeing the dead people in the water, we felt that we had to help so that they didn’t end up on the bottom.

“There was a silent agreement between us in the group that we would do this.

“Afterwards we talked about what we’d seen and there was a strange mixture of being sad but also being happy – we were the last people to guide these people to their destination.

“Martin who had the baby in his arms began singing to give comfort to himself but also the baby. The motion of the boat caused water to come from the baby’s mouth and we all thought the baby might come back to life.

“Suddenly you realise that there’s no chance in the world because the baby had been in the water for hours. No chance in the world.”

Mr Büttner said that he had spoken to Martin and they both felt that they had yet to feel the impact and shock of what they had experienced.

More than 2,500 migrants have died so far this year attempting to cross the Mediterranean according to the UN.

This number represents a 25 per cent increase on the same period last year.