EU ministers heading into crisis talks under pressure to confront people-smuggling gangs

EU ministers are heading 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.
Italy's coastguard said only 28 people survived a shipwreck off war-torn Libya, seen by many as an avoidable tragedy.
Survivors' testimonies suggest about 700 people had been on board the 20-metre fishing boat when it keeled over in darkness. A Bangladeshi survivor taken to hospital by helicopter in Sicily put the numbers at 950, including about 200 women and 50 children.
EU foreign ministers are set to discuss the disaster at a previously-scheduled meeting in Luxembourg on Monday.

Italian premier Matteo Renzi (right), flanked by Italian Chief of Staff General Danilo Errico, talked to journalists during a press conference he held after an emergency strategy session. Photo / AP

EU president Donald Tusk is considering holding a special summit on the crisis, his spokesman said.
Member states Spain, Greece, Germany and France have urged immediate action, with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi leading calls for a summit by the end of the week.
The disaster comes after a week in which two other migrant shipwrecks left an estimated 450 people dead, with increasing boatloads coming from Libya as the North African country falls deeper into chaos.
If the worst fears about Sunday's tragedy are confirmed, it would take the death toll since the start of 2015 to more than 1,600.
More than 11,000 other would-be immigrants have been rescued since the middle of last week and current trends suggest last year's total of 170,000 migrants landing in Italy is likely to be exceeded in 2015.
Rights groups including Amnesty International are calling for the restoration of an Italian navy search-and-rescue operation known as Mare Nostrum, suspended at the end of last year.
Italy had failed to persuade its European partners to help meet its operating costs of 9 million euros ($12.6 million) a month, amid divisions over whether the mission was unintentionally encouraging migrants to attempt the crossing.
Mare Nostrum has been replaced by a much smaller EU-run operation called Triton.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said governments worldwide should show solidarity and take in more refugees, adding he was "shocked and deeply saddened" by reports of the latest shipwreck.
The fishing boat capsized most likely as a result of terrified passengers stampeding to one side in their desperation to get off, the UNHCR said, after authorities in Italy and Malta picked up a distress signal around midnight Saturday (local time), when the boat was still in Libyan waters.
Italian, Maltese and merchant boats scoured the area for survivors but only 24 bodies were recovered.
The deadliest incident prior to Sunday occurred off Malta in September 2014. About 500 migrants drowned when traffickers deliberately rammed a boat in a bid to force the people on board onto another, smaller vessel.