Urgent EU meeting proposed after Mediterranean boat capsize

The prime ministers of the Mediterranean nations Malta and Italy have proposed an urgent meeting of the European Union (EU) to discuss ways to deal with one of the worst accidents in the Mediterranean in which nearly 700 migrants drowned in a boat capsize off Italy on Saturday.

Only 28 out of the 700 migrants on board the ill-fated boat seem to have survived the accident, Xinhua reported on Sunday.

This disaster follows a similar tragedy last week, during which over 400 migrants drowned in a boat capsize off the Libyan coast.

According to a media report, Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had said that people were apparently getting too used to these deaths, as if it was normal for hundreds of people to die in a shipwreck.

Alexis Tsipras, the prime minister of another Mediterranean nation, Greece, on Sunday called for international efforts to address the issue of irregular migration.

The Greek leader, in a telephonic conversation with his Italian counterpart Matteo Renzi, expressed his sorrow over the death of hundreds of migrants and refugees in Saturday's accident.

In a statement issued after this conversation, Tsipras said that he backed Italy's proposal for an urgent meeting of European leaders to discuss the problem.

The Greek premier called for a comprehensive European response to a "humanitarian crisis", stressing that "there is no more time to waste. Delays cost human lives".

European officials have talked about a plan to discuss the formulation of a "wide-ranging" strategy to deal with migrant crisis.

The majority of the migrants taking to sea in an attempt to reach Europe are from North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.

At least 218,000 migrants tried to cross the Mediterranean Sea last year to enter the EU from its southern borders. Some 3,500 of them lost their lives in the attempt, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a recent statement, adding that the trend is "expected to continue".