The rapid escalation this year in the numbers of people drowned as they flee in leaky boats across the Mediterranean is a direct consequence of the conflict in Iraq, Syria and north Africa, specifically Libya.
The Tunisian captain of a boat overcrowded with migrants that capsized off Libya on Sunday, has been charged with reckless homicide after hundreds of migrants died in the water.
The latest refugee deaths in the Mediterranean, where up to 700 people drowned while travelling from North Africa to Europe, follows a similar tragedy last week in which 400 people perished.
Foreign and interior ministers from EU members states are to hold urgent talks in Luxembourg to discuss the rapidly rising death toll of migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean from northern Africa.
Hundred of migrants attempting to reach Europe from Libya are feared to have drowned after their boat capsized.