An officer looks at a monitor showing the ships navigating the area where the boat believed to be crowded with perhaps as many as 700 migrants capsized in the waters north of Libya, in the operation room of the Coast Guard during the coordination of rescue efforts, in Rome, Sunday, April 19, 2015. (Source: AP Photo) The European Union said on Sunday that it is organising an urgent meeting of foreign and interior ministers after the latest migrant boat disaster in the Mediterranean was feared to have killed up to 700 people.
“For as long as there is war and hardship in our neighbourhood near and far, people will continue to seek a safe haven on European shores,” the European Commission said in a statement.
“And as long as countries of origin and transit do not take action to prevent these desperate trips, people will continue to put their lives at risk.”
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The statement said the meeting would be part of the EU’s approach to try to tackle the problem by working with third countries, but did not give any timetable.
It said the crisis “is a joint responsibility of all 28 EU member states and the EU institutions and requires a joint European response”.
French President Francois Hollande called earlier on Sunday for such a meeting, saying Europe “must act” against the growing catalogue of mass drownings of migrants attempting to reach its shores, and calling for closer surveillance of the routes used by people smugglers.