Boat Carrying 300 Migrants Issues Distress Signal, 20 Feared Dead

A handout picture made available by German shipping company Opielok Offshore Carriers (OOC) on 20 April 2015 shows a boat with refugees next to the cargo ship `OOC Cougar` in the Mediterranean sea on 17 January 2015. Photo: EPA

The International Organization for Migration received a distress call from a sinking boat carrying 300 migrants in the Mediterranean Sea.

A spokesman of the organisation said that some twently people are believed to have drowned, the BBC reports.

The caller stated that at least three boats needed help in international waters.

This is the second incident involving migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea on Monday, the first having occurred off the Greek island of Rhodes.

EU foreign and interior ministers are to meet later on Monday in Luxembourg to discuss the migrant crisis.

The meeting was called after a boat carrying up to 700 migrants capsized off the Libyan coast at the weekend, with only 28 of the passengers having been rescued so far.

Italy and Malta announced that they were working on rescuing passengers from at least two boats, which had issued distress signals.

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