Cameron pledges to send HMS Bulwark and helicopters inbid to 'smash' the smuggler gangs

"We will look at all the options for seeking out and destroying these boats... that can only be doneunder a UN resolution (on which) France will take the initiative with others," Mr Hollande said afteran emergency EU summit on the recent upsurge in migrants risking their lives to reach Europeanshores.

21.22

Brendan Cox, a Save the Children spokesman, said the deal was not as good as it seemed at firstglance.

"Today's deal on search and rescue is a case of two steps forward one step back. The commitment totriple Triton's budget and national offers of significant new search and rescue capacity are criticalbreakthroughs. But fudging the question of Triton's mandate isn't good enough.

"EU leaders need to clear this up within hours and commit to Triton's expansion of operational areaand explicit search and rescue responsibility.

"Europe took a small step back from the moral abyss today, but it needs to do much more in thecoming hours to provide clarity and turn this momentum into lives saved at sea."

20.46

Triton funding will be tripled to EUR120 million - the same level of funding as for the Mare Nostrummission that was abandoned, writes Matthew Holehouse.

Member states have pledged "many more vessels, experts and money", says Mr Juncker.

Mr Juncker says Triton's legal mandate already always them to act across the seas in a search andrescue capacity.

Donald Tusk, the commission president, says: "Europe didn't cause this tragedy. But that doesn'tmean we can be indifferent."

Europol will "step up" operations against smugglers.

Mr Juncker announces a voluntary, pilot scheme has been launched for resettlement. Pledges will bemade over the coming weeks.

That concludes the European Council press conference.

20.44

David Cameron has commented on the "positive" meeting as it concludes, writes Matthew Holehousein Brussels.

"It was a positive meeting. Other countries are joining Britain in offering military assets that willhelp save lives.

"What's emerging is what we need which is a comprehensive plan, going after the criminal gangs,going after the traffickers, going after the owners of the boats - potentially taking action there aswell and stabilising the countries from which these people are coming.

"I think it's right for Britain to step forward for the Royal Navy to play a role.

"They will be savings lives not offering asylum in the UK. That's the role we can play in theimmediate term but a comprehensive strategy is what in the end will make the difference and solvethis problem."

20.40

Angela Merkel says EU leaders have agreed to triple the funding for search and rescue operations inthe Mediterranean.

Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission president, said the budget for the Triton missionwhich replaced Mare Nostrum will be equal to the latter now.

18.14

Brendan Cox, Save the Children's Director of policy and advocacy, speaking in Brussels, said thecommitment of ships to the search and rescue mission was a "breakthrough".

"The UK's commitment of ships and helicopters to the search and rescue mission is a bigbreakthrough. It will increase the pressure on other EU states to step up, but more importantly itwill save lives. But these assets must be deployed as part of a large-scale, long-term search andrescue mission if they are to be successful.

"Children are at sea tonight in overcrowded, dangerous boats - Europe's leaders cannot turn theirbacks on them now."

18.10

David Cameron's offer of HMS Bulwark, the Royal Navy flagship, is a temporary offer of two-monthsas he attempts to kick-start a new search and rescue mission, Matthew Holehouse in Brusselsreports.

The vessel carries three Merlin helicopters that are equipped with advanced radar with arange of 100 miles that were specifically procured to detect small, fast moving craft that pose a riskto British fleets - ideal for spotting migrant boats.

The helicopters may be based in Malta or Sicily and "lily-pad" off HMS Bulwark on surveillancemissions.

Britain will also deploy two UK Border Force cutters, used to patrol the British coast againstsmugglers and people traffickers, which will be able to tow migrant boats or blow up them up once

emptied of people. They can carry small numbers of people.

HMSBulwark (PA)

It comes despite Britain believing the previous search and rescue mission, Mare Nostrum, was a pullfactor that endangered lives.

Britain will also double its support to Frontex, the European boarder force, to EUR1 million butBritain is resistant to taking any more asylum seekers - a major part of the summit.

The proposed figure was 5,000 but it is understood Mr Cameron thinks Britain already takes its fairshare of claimants, and the offer of the Royal Navy and the fact Britain has the biggest aid budget onthe continent means the UK is playing its part in the crisis.

Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron arrives at the European Council headquarters (AFP)

That is despite President Tusk, the head of the European Commission, urging heads of state to"sacrifice some national interests for the common good" by taking part in a pan-Europeanresettlement and processing scheme.

Britain backed proposals for Federica Mogherini, the EU's foreign policy chief, to scope out whatlegal case for military action against smuggler gangs - such as blowing up their boats - could bepresented to the UN Security Council. Questions include whether Libya would need to invite militaryaction. On his way in, Mr Cameron vowed to "smash the gangs".

17.08

The UN has condemned the "minimalist approach" taken by European member states "which focusesprimarily on stemming the arrival of migrants and refugees on its shores", Matthew Holehousewrites.

A strongly worded joint statement has been released by António Guterres, the UN highcommissioner for refugees, Zeid Raad Al Hussein, UN high commissioner for human rights, PeterSutherland, special representative of the UN secretary-general for international migration anddevelopment, Peter Sutherland, and William Lacy Swing, director-general of the InternationalOrganisation for Migration.

It says there must be "bold, collective action" including:

- Setting in place a state-led, robust, proactive, and well-resourced search-and-rescue operation,urgently and without delay, with a capacity similar to Mare Nostrum and a clear mission to savelives.

- Creating sufficient channels for safe and regular migration, including for low-skilled migrantworkers and individuals in need of family reunification, and access to protection where needed, assafe alternatives to resorting to smugglers.

- Making a firm commitment to receive significantly higher numbers of refugees through EU-wideresettlement, in addition to current quotas, and on a scale which will make a real impact, combinedwith other legal means for refugees to reach safety.

- Bolstering arrangements to support those countries receiving the most arrivals (Italy, Malta, andGreece) and to distribute responsibility more equitably across the European Union for saving livesand protecting all those in need. Combatting racist and xenophobic rhetoric vilifying migrants andrefugees.

16.30

As the Brussels summit gets under way, Greek authorities say they have found the body of a migrantwho apparently drowned during floods as he tried to illegally enter the country from Turkey.

The unidentified young man's body was found on Thursday near the banks of the Evros River onGreece's northeastern border with Turkey. Police believe he died about a month ago.

Our graphic plots over 2,000 fatalities involving migrants trying to reach Europe by sea since 2000

15.55

Germany has offered two frigates for the Med mission, it is understood. Matthew Holehouse reports:

Here's the context to Cameron's offer to send in the Navy: the proposal that European

states should be prepared to take in 5,000 migrants in need of refuge.

On arriving, European Commission president Donald Tusk said they need to tackle smugglernetworks, boost the Triton rescue mission and boost ties with countries of origin.

He went on: "Finally, and this is maybe the most difficult, the most and challenging moment at ourmeeting, we have to discuss how to reinforce European solidarity. I mean that we need to discusssuch difficult issues such as resettlement, relocation and processing of asylum applications.

"Why is it so difficult? Because in fact it will be a discussion of readiness to sacrifice some nationalinterests for the common good. And this is always the most challenging moment in our discussions."

When Cameron arrived he seemed to pre-empt this - by saying that anyone picked up by a Britishrescue vessel would not have immediate recourse to asylum in the UK.

Theresa May, along with other northern European interior ministers, has consistently argued thatMare Nostrum, the search and rescue operation, was acting as a pull factor for migrants.

15.17

HMS Bulwark is due to arrive in Turkey on Friday for the centenary commemorations of the Gallipolilandings, meaning it will be in the region to assist with search and rescue operations.

Prince Harry and the Prince of Wales will be at the commemorations, and will go aboard the ship tomeet 15 descendants of troops who fought there.

Cameron has offered HMS Bulwark, the flagship of the Royal Navy, for any mission in the Med.

The ship - a landing platform dock - is designed to put ashore Royal Marine Commandos in assaultsby sea, by boats launched from the dock compartment and from two helicopters from the deck.

It has a nautical range of 8,000 miles and can carry up to 700 troops on top of a crew of 325.

The 176-metre launchpad for helicopters helped protect London during the 2012 Olympics.

15.06

Here is the full statement from David Cameron:

What we are dealing with here is a real tragedy in the Mediterranean. Today's meeting hasgot to be about saving lives.

Now saving lives means rescuing these poor people, but it also means smashing the gangs andstabilising the region. Now Britain, as ever, will help.

We'll use our aid budget to help stabilise neighbouring countries. And as the country in Europe withthe biggest defence budget, we can make a real contribution.

I'll be offering the Royal Navy Flagship, HMS Bulwark, with three helicopters and two other borderpatrol ships, which will be able to help with these operations."

Cameron stresses that people will be taken to the nearest port - likely Italy - and would not be givenrecourse to asylum in the UK.

When these tragedies happen, Britain is always there - and this time is no exception.

14.22

David Cameron has promised the Royal Navy's HMS Bulwark, three helicopters and two other shipsto aid rescue operations in the Mediterranean Sea, Matthew Holehouse reports from Brussels.

Speaking on arrival at today's emergency EU summit, the Prime Minister said EU plans for tacklingthe migrant crisis would include helping people in distress but also "smashing the gangs andstabilising the region" they originate from.

14.11

EU leaders including David Cameron are due to begin arriving at the Brussels emergency summitwithin the next hour.

14.07

Europe must urgently set up an effective rescue operation for migrants at sea and commit toreceiving significantly higher numbers of refugees, top UN officials and the InternationalOrganization for Migration have said in a joint statement:

A tragedy of epic proportions is unfolding in the Mediterranean.

The European Union response needs to go beyond the present minimalist approach... which focusesprimarily on stemming the arrival of migrants and refugees on its shores.

We would therefore encourage bold, collective action to expand the range of measures underconsideration to include... setting in place a State-led, robust, proactive, and well-resourced search-and-rescue operation, urgently and without delay, with a capacity similar to Mare Nostrum and aclear mission to save lives.

13.49

Migrants were savagely beaten and some killed by smugglers as they waited to be loaded onto theboat that sank on Sunday with the loss of up to 800 lives, writes Nick Squires in Catania.

In a statement, investigators in Catania, Sicily, said that one migrant was killed forstanding up in the rubber dinghy that took him and other asylum seekers from a beach on the Libyancoast to the ex-fishing boat bound for Italy.

"He stood up without permission on the rubber dinghy. He was killed and his body was thrown intothe water," prosecutors said.

Up to 1,200 migrants were kept in an abandoned farm near Tripoli for a month before thedeparture.They were beaten by the smugglers, who were allegedly in collaboration with Libyanpolice or soldiers.

"The beatings reportedly caused several deaths. Others died from the hardships they endured,"investigators said.

Two alleged smugglers were arrested when they arrived with the other survivors in Sicily this week.

One of them, alleged crew member Mahmud Bikhit, 25, a Syrian, has now turned against the allegedcaptain, Mohammed Ali Malek, 27, a Tunisian, and is prepared to give evidence against him.

They have now been given separate legal teams and will appear in court in Catania tomorrow.

Investigators said they had almost finished questioning the other 26 survivors of the disaster.

The migrants were taken from the farm to a beach by truck. They were then transferred to thefishing boat by rubber dinghy.

They had paid widely differing sums for the voyage, from 1,000 Libyan dinars (£490) to $7,000. "Thereasons for the different costs are not clear," prosecutors said.

12.35

Refugee children are resorting to drinking their own urine while being detained by Libyansmugglers in squalid prisons because they are given no water or food, The Telegraph has been told.

A spokesman for Save the Children said that once migrants reach Libya, they are often held formonths in makeshift prisons until their families back home can come up with enough money to paythe traffickers for the next part of the journey - the boat crossing to Italy.

To put more pressure on the families to send money, the migrants are routinely beaten and tortured.

Save the Children's Gemma Parkin, speaking in the port of Catania, Sicily, as 220 African migrantsdisembarked from an Italian military ship after being rescued at sea, said:

There are some very harrowing accounts. Children and minors are kept in these makeshiftprisons for months.

They are resorting to drinking their own urine because they are given no food or water.

They are dying of diseases. Up to 100 of them may be kept in a single room.

Read in full: Mediterranean refugee children drink own urine in squalid Libya prisons

11.52

As European leaders prepared to meet in Brussels to try to thrash out some solutions to themigration crisis in the Mediterranean, 220 migrants were brought to the port of Catania in Sicilyafter being rescued by an Italian ship, writes Nick Squires in Catania.

Most appeared to be sub-Saharan African men, but there were a few women on board aswell, including four who were pregnant.

Some of the men were barefoot and wearing only t-shirts. They appeared to be carrying nopossessions other than the clothes they were wearing. They were crammed onto the back deck of theItalian naval patrol ship as it entered Catania's port against a backdrop of snow-capped Mt Etna, oneof Europe's most active volcanoes.

11.10

Ahead of this afternoon's emergency summit, a group of former EU leaders have written a letterurging the immediate restoration of an expansive search and rescue operation in the Mediterranean.

In the letter, signed by figures including Chris Patten, the former EU Commissioner and Governor ofHong Kong, and Carl Bildt, the former Prime Minister of Sweden, they write:

EU Heads of State and Government [must] go beyond the ten-point plan issued earlier thisweek in immediately restoring an expansive search and rescue operation in Mediterranean waterswith a mandate and level of funding that match the humanitarian emergency that confronts us.

They add that the death toll is "a stain on the conscience of our continent".

10.28

Colin Freeman explains why the EU's 2009-10 fight against Somali piracy won't work as a model forfighting Mediterranean people traffickers:

As they meet for talks today on Mediterranean people-smuggling crisis, EU leaders claimto have one small ace up their collective shirtsleeves. Faced with a potentially massive exodus ofmigrants in coming months, they have at least been able to pull out a ready-made plan for gettingtough with the trafficking gangs. Its name is Operation Atalanta, and it was the EU's response a fewyears ago those other modern-day scoundrels of the sea: Somali pirates.

Back in the pirates' heyday of 2009-10, when they were hijacking ships nearly every day, the EUdespatched a multi-national naval force to stop them. Part of its mission was to catch pirates in theact and sink their vessels. A similar plan "to capture and destroy vessels used by smugglers" is nowbeing mooted by the EU's migration commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos, who says Atalanta"should inspire us for new operations against smugglers in the Mediterranean".

Hmm. As someone who reported on the piracy crisis closely - and was held hostage by pirates myselfat one point - I wouldn't say Atalanta's record was exactly "inspiring". Like most Western militaryoperations, it was hamstrung by legal and human rights complications, which often saw the piratesbeing caught and then released again. And anti-piracy operations were spectacularly useless againsthuman traffickers, as I saw for myself one day while on patrol with a Royal Navy vessel in the watersoff Bossaso, the Somali port where I was kidnapped the year before.

10.00

Nick Squires reports from Sicily on the former US military base being used to house desperatenewly-arrived refugees:

They survived the worst ever migrant catastrophe in the Mediterranean, but now a group ofrefugees find themselves in a surreal new environment - a former US military base in Sicily that hasbeen turned into a vast encampment for the desperate and dispossessed.

The 16 adult survivors of Sunday's disaster, in which a boat capsized off the coast of Libya with theloss of an estimated 800 lives, including women and children, are now living in a migrant receptioncentre at Mineo, outside Catania, in eastern Sicily.

Resembling a little pocket of American suburbia, it was built for US military forces but has sincebeen turned into one of Europe's largest refugee camps.

Immigrant Reception Centre in Mineo (Paul Grover)

More than 3,200 migrants, many of them from Africa, wander along streets with names such asIntrepid Lane and Constitution Avenue.

They have little to do and nowhere to go.

There is a pitch where they can play football, but otherwise boredom reigns. There is sometimestension between the more than 30 nationalities packed together in the facility, including sub-Saharan Africans, Afghans and Bangladeshis.

Surrounded by fences topped with barbed wire, the migrant facility is patrolled by Italian police.

Read in full: Mediterranean migrants end up in Sicily's bizarre slice of Americana

09.27

Twenty-four caskets containing the only bodies recovered from the Mediterranean's worst-evermigrant disaster have been laid out for a memorial service in Malta for the estimated 800 victims.

British soldiers were among those carrying the coffins after the funeral service for the 24 drownedmigrants.

Malta's president and prime minister, Italy's interior minister and the EU's migration commissionerwere on hand for Thursday's service, which includes Christian and Muslim prayers.

Flowers lined the route that the caskets took from Malta's morgue to the service on a helipad of theisland nation's main hospital.

Only 28 people survived the capsizing of the migrant boat last weekend. The suspected captain anda crew member of the smuggler boat have their first court hearing on Friday.

Map: where the boat capsized

09.08

European leaders including David Cameron are due to arrive in Brussels early this afternoon todiscuss new measures to tackle the migrant crisis.

The death toll so far this year among Mediterranean migrants has already passed 1,700 - 30 timeshigher than at the same point last year, which was itself a record high.

But what can be done? Colin Freeman outlines five practical steps the leaders could agree upon:

Increase search and rescue patrols. Opinion is divided as to whether increased patrols are the onlyhumane response to sinkings, or whether it simply encourages more people trafficking. Most aidagencies take the former view. Britain takes the latter. Following the recent deaths of at least 1,200migrants in two ship sinkings, increasing patrols may be the only politically acceptable option at thecurrent time. However, if Britain goes ahead with deploying naval vessels, as it has now hinted itmay do, it may well mean offering asylum in the UK to any people they rescue, rather than expectingother EU countries to take them in.

Sink and destroy. The EU will debate sinking and destroying trafficking vessels if they are

apprehended by navy ships. A similar tactic that was deployed by the EU-led naval force againstSomali pirates. However, it met with limited success, in that most pirates view their boats asexpendable anyway, as indeed do traffickers. True, traffickers are already finding difficulty gettingnew ships for their missions. But increased scarcity of vessels may simply drive up prices rather thaneliminate trafficking.

Get 'neighbouring countries' to help. The scale of the ongoing crisis can give the EU an excuse tolean more on other North African countries to do more to help. Libya's neighbours Egypt and Tunisiacould be encouraged to exercise tighter control over their borders, as could countries like Niger andChad to the south. Likewise, more education campaigns in the likes of Nigeria could deter migrantsfrom the idea that Europe's streets are "paved with gold". The key would be to stop people makingthe journey to Libya in the first place. The UN already does no-holds-barred campaigns warning ofthe dangers of people trafficking, sometimes sending out volunteers armed with pictures of drownedmigrants. However, migrants who have already paid thousands of dollars for passage across theSahara can be hard to deter.

Breaking up smuggling gangs. Immigration officers say that too many EU states currently pay only"lip service" to this idea. A new Europol team was launched with this exact goal in mind last month,but in effect is just a working group of police chiefs from different EU states. Real enforcementwould need co-operation with the Libyan government, which is currently in disarray. Were such co-operation to be re-instated, drones could be used to help identify on the Libyan coastline where thesmuggling operations were taking place.

Build local asylum assessment centres and increase "assisted voluntary returns". The UN has said itwould give theoretical backing to plans for asylum seekers heading for northern Europe to havetheir claims processed in centres along key transit routes in Africa. Such plans might also determany of the migrants from sub-Saharan Africa, many of whom are primarily "economic refugees".There could also be a beefed-up role for the International Organisation for Migration, an inter-governmental body that deals with migrant welfare issues, and which is one of the few internationalbodies that is still operating in Libya. In the last two months, it has helped more than 400 mainlySenegalese migrants working in Libya fly home to Senegal. The migrants had been arrested by localmilitias and put in detention centres. Assisting migrants in returning to their home countries fromLibya might reduce the temptation for them to risk their lives in people-smuggling boats to Europe.

Migrants arrive in Catania (GETTY)

08.50

Two hundred African migrants have arrived in Catania, Sicily this morning, after being rescued byItalian coastguard.

The Telegraph's Nick Squires tweets:

08.20

Welcome to our live coverage of the Mediterranean migrant crisis, on the day that European leadersmeet in Brussels for an emergency summit to discuss ways to prevent thousands of deaths thissummer.

Last night, a draft summit document was leaked in which it was proposed that EU leaders considermilitary intervention against traffickers. Nick Squires and Barney Henderson report:

European Union leaders meeting in Brussels on Thursday will consider launching a militaryoperation against Libyan migrant traffickers, a draft statement seen by AFP showed on Wednesdaynight.

Migrants sit at a centre for illegal migrants in Misrata after their boat was intercepted by the Libyancoast guard

On the eve of the emergency EU summit on migration in Brussels, Matteo Renzi, the Italian primeminister, said the country was "at war" with migrant traffickers, who are responsible for the deathsof as many as 1,000 migrants in the past week alone.

Around 250 migrants are rescued from the crossing

David Cameron and other EU leaders will consider a commitment to "undertake systematic efforts toidentify, capture and destroy vessels before they are used by traffickers," the draft statementshowed.

A diplomatic source told a news agency that the EU's 28 member states were widely mobilised toapprove the statement's wording, reflecting a growing willingness to launch an operation to fight thetraffickers.

http://telegraph.feedsportal.com/c/32726/f/568617/s/45aff28c/sc/11/l/0L0Stelegraph0O0Cnews0Cworldnews0Ceurope0Ceu0C115570A740CMediterranean0Emigrant0Ecrisis0EEU0Eleaders0Emeet0Efor0Eemergency0Esummit0Bhtml/story01.htm