As
many as 700 migrants are feared drowned after their packed boat capsized off
Libya in what is being described as the deadliest such disaster to date in the
Mediterranean.
The
UN refugee agency (UNHCR) and Italy's coastguard said only 28 people had
survived the wreck.
Testimonies
suggested there had been about 700 people on board the 20-metre fishing boat,
officials said.
"It
seems we are looking at the worst massacre ever seen in the
Mediterranean," UNHCR spokeswoman Carlotta Sami said.
Malta's
prime minister Joseph Muscat said rescuers were at the scene searching for
survivors among corpses floating in the water.
"They
are literally trying to find people alive among the dead floating in the
water," he said.
"This
could possibly be the biggest tragedy to have ever taken place in the
Mediterranean.
"Children,
men, and women have died."
A
total of 17 boats scoured the area for survivors on Sunday but only 24 bodies
had been recovered so far, the Italian coastguard said.
"Although
we are seeing encouraging signs from European politicians, action must be
taken," Mr Muscat said.
We
have said too many times 'never again'. Now is time for the European Union as
such to tackle these tragedies without delay.
EU
foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini
"A
time will come when Europe will be judged harshly for its inaction as it was
judged when it had turned a blind eye to genocide."
Italian
prime minister Matteo Renzi called for an emergency summit of European Union
(EU) leaders.
"We
are working to ensure this meeting can be held by the end of the week," he
said.
"It
has to be a priority.
"We
cannot remain insensitive when every day there is a massacre in the
Mediterranean."
The
EU announced an emergency meeting of foreign and interior ministers to discuss
what Amnesty International described as an avoidable "man-made
tragedy".
"We
have said too many times 'never again'," EU foreign policy chief Federica
Mogherini said in a statement.
"Now
is time for the European Union as such to tackle these tragedies without
delay."
In
indirect criticism of northern EU countries that have so far left rescue
operations to southern states such as Italy, Ms Mogherini said: "We need
to save human lives all together, as all together we need to protect our
borders and to fight the trafficking of human beings."
Coastal
authorities in Italy and Malta picked up a distress signal from the stricken
vessel around midnight (local time) on Saturday, when it was about 126
kilometres off the Libyan coast and 177 kilometres south of the Italian island
of Lampedusa.
The
Italian coastguard instructed a nearby merchant ship to go to the scene and it
was when the Portuguese-registered King Jacob arrived at the scene that the
fishing boat capsized, most likely as a result of the terrified passengers
stampeding to one side in their desperation to get off, Ms Sami said.
A migrant is helped from a coast guard boat in the Sicilian Habour of Palermo
Rescued migrant by Meditarian navy in Italy
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