'No more excuses'

EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini told member states yesterday they had "no more excuses" not to act on the Mediterranean migrant crisis as reports came through of another boat sinking with 300 people on board.

More than 700 people were feared dead after a fishing boat crammed with migrants seeking a better life in Europe capsized off Libya on Sunday, with some survivors suggesting nearly 1,000 could have been on board.

EU president Donald Tusk is to host an emergency summit on the migration crisis on Thursday.

"I have decided to call an extraordinary European Council this Thursday to address situation in the Mediterranean," Tusk said on Twitter yesterday, a day after Italian premier Matteo Renzi called for the meeting.

As news of the tragedy emerged, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy also voiced support for a summit of the EU's 28 leaders, as did Britain's David Cameron.

"The situation in the Mediterranean is dramatic," Tusk said later in a video statement.

"We cannot continue like this, we can't accept that hundreds of people die when trying to cross the sea to Europe," he added.

"I don't expect any quick-fix solutions to the root causes of migration because there are none. Had they existed we would have used them long ago."

As EU foreign and interiors met to discuss their response to the worsening crisis, the International Organization for Migration said it had received a distress call from another boat in the Mediterranean carrying more than 300 people, with at least 20 reported dead.

Arriving for the ministerial talks in Luxembourg, Mogherini said the 28-nation bloc "has no more excuses, the member states have no more excuses".

"We need immediate action from the EU and the member states," she added.