That figure is in line with survivor estimates of between 700 and 800 victims. Only 28 people survived the April 18, 2015, shipwreck, the deadliest known migrant tragedy.
Government official Vittorio Piscitelli said today that a more precise number can be known only after further examination of the remains, "to substitute the numbers with names."
Many remains were badly decomposed by the time the wreck was raised from the seabed earlier this year.
There was one child, a 7-year-old boy. Most were from sub-Saharan African nations.
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