French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault called Saturday for a meeting of European countries on border management after the tragic shipwreck off Italy in which hundreds are feared dead.
French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault called Saturday for a meeting of European countries on border management after the tragic shipwreck off Italy in which hundreds are feared dead.
"Beyond the tragedy... European political officials must talk, and soon," Ayrault said on the sidelines of a meeting in the eastern French city of Metz, adding: "It is up to them to meet to find a proper solution; compassion is not enough."
A total of 111 bodies have been recovered from the boat which was carrying between 450 and 500 African asylum-seekers -- mostly Somalis and Eritreans -- when it capsized Thursday off the island of Lampedusa, the first entry point to Italy from north Africa.
It is feared that the final death toll could be closer to 300, which would make this the worst ever Mediterranean refugee tragedy after a previous one in 1996, also off Italian shores, claimed 283 lives.
One hundred and fifty survivors were plucked from the sea by rescuers.
"Who is not affected? I was deeply touched, emotional at the images I saw (of the tragedy)," Ayrault said.
The accident "can only incite our compassion, our solidarity, but beyond words, I think it is important that Europe concerns itself with this particularly dramatic situation", Ayrault said.
On Saturday Lampedusa fishermen took their boats out to sea in mourning for the victims who Prime Minister Enrico Letta announced would be awarded Italian nationality posthumously.
Rescuers said they planned to raise the wreck of the boat in the Mediterranean where rough seas have forced off the search for remaining corpses.
Italy has asked the European Union for greater assistance in stemming the influx of refugees, with 30,000 reported to have landed so far in 2013 -- more than four times the number for all of 2012.
The tragedy has exposed Europe's flawed migration and asylum policy, which places an unfair burden on the countries in southern Europe where asylum-seekers first arrive, observers said.
