BRUSSELS: European Council President Donald Tusk has called EU leaders together for an extraordinary summit on Thursday to discuss a joint response to the flow of migrants from North Africa and to disasters that have caused thousands to drown.

Tusk's call on Monday followed Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's request that the leaders meet.

EU foreign and interior ministers were meeting in Luxembourg under pressure to produce more than words as bodies from Sunday's deadly wreck in the Mediterranean were brought ashore in Malta.

Copyright Reuters, 2015