EU calls emergency meeting to tackle refugee crisis

BRUSSELS

The European Union has called for an emergency meeting on September 14 to discuss solutions to the escalating refugee crisis facing the 28-nation bloc.

Luxembourg, which holds EU’s rotating presidency, called for an emergency meeting of interior ministers from the 28 EU member states in Brussels Sunday.

"The situation of migration phenomena outside and inside the European Union has recently taken unprecedented proportions," Luxembourg said in a statement late on Sunday.

The interior ministers will discuss policies on how to return refugees back to their home country and to prevent human trafficking.

The announcement came three days after 71 refugees, believed to be from Syria, were found dead last Thursday in an abandoned lorry on a highway in Austria near the Hungarian border.

Around 2,500 refugees and migrants have died or gone missing trying to reach Europe this year alone, according to the United Nations.