Mediterranean Migrant Disaster

The United Nations' refugee agency said Thursday that as many as 150 people are feared dead in a shipwreck off the coast of Libya, potentially marking the deadliest migrant disaster in the Mediterranean this year.

Italy has started recovering the bodies of migrants from a small fishing boat that sank with more than 800 people over a year ago, a spokesman said on Monday.

The treacherous Mediterranean Sea crossing from Libya to Italy has claimed the lives of over 1,030 migrants in the last week, mostly as barely seaworthy smuggling boats foundered and sank despite calm seas and sunny skies, a migration agency said Tuesday, citing new accounts from survivors.

Hopes faded of finding survivors today from the sinking of a boat in which an estimated 200 migrants were feared drowned, as rescue ships were called to the aid of more migrant boats in the same area of the Mediterranean.

Nearly 3,500 migrants were rescued Saturday from 15 boats off the coast of Libya, Italy's coastguard said.

European Union leaders who decided last year to halt the rescue of migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean will reverse their decision on Thursday at a summit hastily convened after nearly 2,000 people died at sea.

The number of migrants crossing the Mediterranean could surge to 500,000 this year, with deaths at sea reaching thousands if no action is taken against the people who traffic them, the head of the UN's maritime agency warned .

The European Union must take a collective stand to tackle migrant trafficking at its source in African countries, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said on Wednesday.

The captain of a migrant boat that capsized in the Mediterranean's deadliest disaster in decades was arrested today on suspicion of causing the deaths of an estimated 800 people.

An Italian patrol ship arrived in Malta on Monday with 24 corpses recovered out of hundreds feared drowned after a migrant boat capsized in the Mediterranean, in one of the worst disasters yet in a growing humanitarian crisis.

EU ministers headed today into crisis talks under pressure to confront people-smuggling gangs, with more than 700 people feared dead in what may be the Mediterranean's deadliest migrant disaster to date

As many as 700 people were feared dead after a fishing boat packed with migrants capsized off the Libyan coast overnight in what officials said may be the Mediterranean's worst disaster as thousands flee poverty and war to Europe.

The European Union today called an emergency meeting of ministers to discuss what the top EU diplomat said was the "unacceptable" tragedy of up to 700 people feared drowned in the latest Mediterranean migrant shipwreck.

Pope Francis, speaking after some 700 migrants were feared dead in the Mediterranean, on Sunday appealed to the international community to take swift and decisive action to avoid more tragedies.

As many as 700 people were feared dead after a fishing boat packed with migrants capsized off the Libyan coast overnight, in what may be one of the worst disasters of the Mediterranean migrant crisis, officials said on Sunday.

The United Nations' refugee agency said Thursday that as many as 150 people are feared dead in a shipwreck off the coast of Libya, potentially marking the deadliest migrant disaster in the Mediterranean this year.

Italy has started recovering the bodies of migrants from a small fishing boat that sank with more than 800 people over a year ago, a spokesman said on Monday.

The treacherous Mediterranean Sea crossing from Libya to Italy has claimed the lives of over 1,030 migrants in the last week, mostly as barely seaworthy smuggling boats foundered and sank despite calm seas and sunny skies, a migration agency said Tuesday, citing new accounts from survivors.

Hopes faded of finding survivors today from the sinking of a boat in which an estimated 200 migrants were feared drowned, as rescue ships were called to the aid of more migrant boats in the same area of the Mediterranean.

Nearly 3,500 migrants were rescued Saturday from 15 boats off the coast of Libya, Italy's coastguard said.

European Union leaders who decided last year to halt the rescue of migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean will reverse their decision on Thursday at a summit hastily convened after nearly 2,000 people died at sea.

The number of migrants crossing the Mediterranean could surge to 500,000 this year, with deaths at sea reaching thousands if no action is taken against the people who traffic them, the head of the UN's maritime agency warned .

The European Union must take a collective stand to tackle migrant trafficking at its source in African countries, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said on Wednesday.

The captain of a migrant boat that capsized in the Mediterranean's deadliest disaster in decades was arrested today on suspicion of causing the deaths of an estimated 800 people.

An Italian patrol ship arrived in Malta on Monday with 24 corpses recovered out of hundreds feared drowned after a migrant boat capsized in the Mediterranean, in one of the worst disasters yet in a growing humanitarian crisis.

EU ministers headed today into crisis talks under pressure to confront people-smuggling gangs, with more than 700 people feared dead in what may be the Mediterranean's deadliest migrant disaster to date

As many as 700 people were feared dead after a fishing boat packed with migrants capsized off the Libyan coast overnight in what officials said may be the Mediterranean's worst disaster as thousands flee poverty and war to Europe.

The European Union today called an emergency meeting of ministers to discuss what the top EU diplomat said was the "unacceptable" tragedy of up to 700 people feared drowned in the latest Mediterranean migrant shipwreck.

Pope Francis, speaking after some 700 migrants were feared dead in the Mediterranean, on Sunday appealed to the international community to take swift and decisive action to avoid more tragedies.

As many as 700 people were feared dead after a fishing boat packed with migrants capsized off the Libyan coast overnight, in what may be one of the worst disasters of the Mediterranean migrant crisis, officials said on Sunday.