Italy Calls For EU To Meet On Immigration This Week After Sinking

Italy Calls For EU To Meet On Immigration This Week After Sinking
A boat transporting migrants arrives in the port of Messina after a rescue operation at see on April 18, 2015 in Sicily. A surge of migrants pouring into Europe from across the Mediterranean won't end before chaos in Libya is controlled, Italy's prime minister said yesterday, as the Vatican condemned a deadly clash between Muslim and Christian refugees on one boat. Italian authorities have rescued more than 11,000 migrants making the often deadly voyage from North Africa in the past six days, with hundreds more expected, the coastguard said. AFP PHOTO / GIOVANNI ISOLINO (Photo credit should read GIOVANNI ISOLINO/AFP/Getty Images)
A boat transporting migrants arrives in the port of Messina after a rescue operation at see on April 18, 2015 in Sicily. A surge of migrants pouring into Europe from across the Mediterranean won't end before chaos in Libya is controlled, Italy's prime minister said yesterday, as the Vatican condemned a deadly clash between Muslim and Christian refugees on one boat. Italian authorities have rescued more than 11,000 migrants making the often deadly voyage from North Africa in the past six days, with hundreds more expected, the coastguard said. AFP PHOTO / GIOVANNI ISOLINO (Photo credit should read GIOVANNI ISOLINO/AFP/Getty Images)

ROME, April 19 (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has asked fellow EU leaders to hold an emergency meeting on immigration this week following the latest migrant drownings, Renzi's spokesman said on Sunday.

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.

In contacts with several EU leaders on Sunday Renzi called for an emergency summit this week to discuss the mounting migrant crisis, Renzi's spokesman told Reuters. Renzi was to hold a cabinet meeting later on Sunday, followed by a news conference at 1600 GMT. (Reporting By Gavin Jones; Editing by Jon Boyle)

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