Special to WorldTribune.com

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

Italian media reports say as many as 700 people are feared dead after a boat packed with migrants capsized overnight off the Libyan coast.

As news of the tragedy spread, French President Francois Hollande urged that Europe ministers gather in an effort to address the region’s ongoing migration problem, which has cost thousands of lives in recent years.

Italy’s Coast Guard said on April 19 that 28 people had so far been rescued after the incident, which happened just off Libyan waters, south of the Italian island of Lampedusa.

Dozens of bodies have been recovered, it said.

The Italian news agency ANSA said the boat may have held 700 passengers.

Around 20,000 migrants from Africa and the Middle East have reached the Italian coast this year, the International Organization for Migration estimates.

So far this year, more than 900 have died in failed crossings. Last week, 400 people were presumed drowned when another boat capsized.

Pope Francis urged world leaders on April 19 to “act decisively and quickly to stop these tragedies from recurring.”

“These are men and women like us, brothers seeking a better life,” the leader of the world’s Roman Catholics said.

  Boat with hundreds fleeing Libya sinks in Mediterranean, WorldTribune.com