Private donations to the Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) from around the world soared in the last 24-hours with over 2,500 individuals donating more than €200,000 since yesterday morning.

MOAS attributed the surge to the wave of horror in reaction to the picture of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi on a beach in Turkey.

Aylan drowned with his five-year-old brother and their mother off Turkey.

MOAS, which has saved over 11,000 men, women and children from unseaworthy vessels in the Mediterranean in the last 12 months, has been overwhelmed by this latest response, with most of the donations coming from the US, the UK and Turkey.

In July and August alone, an estimated 900 drowned or died from asphyxia and dehydration in the central Mediterranean region.

MOAS director and former Armed Forces chief Martin Xuereb said: "The tragedy now has a face and a name when until now we spoke mainly of numbers. That child had a future, a mother, he was a happy human being and all of a sudden it's gone."

"The death of a child not only encapsulates the tragedy but the sheer desperation of someone who felt there was no choice but to take the child on a boat."

To contribute to MOAS and its work, visit here.