European Union leaders have pledged to double the size of the EU's Mediterranean border operation Triton, tripling its budget and offering ships and aircraft to try to halt the migrant deaths.
Triton has four planes, one helicopter and seven ships in the Mediterranean on what is a border management mission, not a search and rescue operation.
While its assets will swell, the scope of the mission will not change anytime soon.
No modifications were made to Triton's mandate - that would be too complicated, EU officials say - nor, for the moment, will its area of operations be expanded toward the Libyan coast, the launching pad for most migrants.
As horrific details continued to emerge from the survivors of last weekend's shipwreck in which hundreds of men, women and children drowned in the Mediterranean's worst migrant disaster, the heads of state also took a step closer to military action against the people smugglers.
European Council chief Donald Tusk said leaders had tasked EU foreign policy head Federica Mogherini to "propose action in order to capture and destroy the smugglers' vessels before they can be used".
French President Francois Hollande added separately that his country would seek a UN resolution to destroy migrant traffickers' boats.
But leaders failed to agree on concrete action over the sensitive issue of what to do with migrants once they land on European shores.
"I had hoped we could have been more ambitious but that was not possible," EU Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said at a post-summit press briefing.
If the migrant crisis continues unabated, aid groups predict there could be 30,000 deaths at sea this year and Italy will have to process 200,000 migrants landing on its soil.
PLEDGES FOR BORDER OPERATION TRITON:
* Belgium: 1 ship
* Britain: 1 navy flagship, 2 patrol boats, 3 helicopters
* France: 2 ships, 2 planes
* Germany: 2 ships
* Ireland: 1 navy ship if Dublin is satisfied with legal arrangements for its use.
* Latvia: 1 patrol boat, 1 helicopter.
* Lithuania: 1 helicopter.
* (Non-EU) Norway: 1 large civilian vessel
Share
