Prime Minister Joseph Muscat will be meeting Matteo Renzi this afternoon in Rome to discuss the latest migrant tragedy off Libyan shores in which hundreds of people on a smugglers’ boat are believed to have lost their lives.

The Press Association reported late last night that a Bangladeshi survivor said that 950 people were on board, including hundreds who were locked in the hold by the smugglers. However, Mr Renzi was quoted as saying that the authorities were “not in a position to confirm or verify” the death toll.

An Italian frigate was early this morning expected to bring to Malta 24 of the victims, the only bodies found. The vessel should then proceed to Sicily with the only 28 survivors, who will be interviewed by an Italian magistrate.

If confirmed, this would be the single deadliest accident at sea since WWII. The unfortunate record was previously thought to have been set by the tragedies in Lampedusa during which, in two incidents in October 2013, 600 people had lost their lives.

The latest incident happened at about midnight on Saturday.

Migrants on board the ill-fated boat launched a mayday to Rome’s rescue coordination centre while still inside Libyan waters.

Rome diverted a nearby merchant vessel, MV King Jacob, but as she was approaching there was commotion on the boat, which capsized.

Our actions must be bold – Juncker

As with the 2013 Lampedusa tragedies, the deaths shook Europe into action. France, Italy and Malta called for an urgent EU summit and the president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, said “our actions must be bold”.

In Malta, Opposition leader Simon Busuttil urged the Prime Minister to call an urgent summit and said he would support him.

Even the Pope weighed in, urging the international community to act decisively and quickly. In his Sunday noon message, he said that “those who died were people like us, they are men and women like us, our brothers seeking a better life”.

But beyond the public statements, prime ministers, particularly from the southern states, were exchanging phone calls yesterday to coordinate a position at the proposed summit.

The thinking goes beyond a response to immigration itself but includes the securitisation of Libya, which remains engaged in fierce fighting, even close to the capital, Tripoli, despite peace talks taking place in Morocco.

Italy, in particular, has been lobbying hard behind the scenes for a peacekeeping operation in Libya that would also entail blockading Libyan waters to help secure the country’s shores, clamp down on people smugglers and stop migrants from crossing over in boats. The plan kept being postponed due to ongoing UN-sponsored talks but patience in Rome is running thin.

Human rights agencies have already voiced serious concerns about such plans.

However, it will all depend on the details. This is what the Maltese and Italian Prime Minister are expected to be discussing today.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi (centre) attends a news conference at Chigi Palace in Rome yesterday. He has asked fellow EU leaders to hold an emergency meeting on immigration this week following the latest migrant drownings. Photo: Tony Gentile/ReutersItalian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi (centre) attends a news conference at Chigi Palace in Rome yesterday. He has asked fellow EU leaders to hold an emergency meeting on immigration this week following the latest migrant drownings. Photo: Tony Gentile/Reuters

In a press conference in Rome yesterday, Mr Renzi said: “Mare Nostrum (the fully fledged Italian search and rescue operation which was discontinued in November 2014) is merely a buffer operation unless we remove the problem at its root.

“Tomorrow, we [Dr Muscat and himself] assess the situation together,” he said, thanking the Maltese government for its cooperation. Almost simultaneously, Dr Muscat was tweeting that “securitisation of Libya is key”.

Meanwhile, the captain of the Armed Forces of Malta patrol boat that was dispatched to aid the search and rescue operation for survivors yesterday about 130 miles south of Lampedusa told Times of Malta in a call from his vessel that the crew was disappointed that no survivors had been found.

The crew of the P52 jumped into action on Saturday at about 12.30am when they received a call that a boat had capsized. It took them six hours to get to the site within Libyan waters, steaming at full speed.

“Unfortunately, we did not come across any survivors. The commanding vessel at the site assigned us our search area. We did not see survivors in this area or corpses but there was a large diesel slick and debris consistent with a boat sinking,” he said.

He and his crew had been up for about 24 hours at that point but still remained focused.

“It’s tough, the past few weeks have been tough but rescuing people is always a rewarding job. The crew is always eager,” Lieutenant Keith Caruana said.

Commander Jeffrey Curmi said the AFM would keep searching for survivors with a fresh crew. Brig. Curmi said the AFM had constantly been assisting the Italians over the past two weeks or so when more than 10,000 people were rescued. He admitted that the pace was stretching the AFM to the limit.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.