HOLLYWOOD star Angelina Jolie has broken off from her working honeymoon in Malta to meet rescuers who come to the aid of migrants trying to make their way to Europe - after 700 people were feared drowned in the last few days.
Jolie is a UN special envoy and she and Antonio Guterres, UN high commissioner for refugees, called for increased efforts by European nations to contribute to rescue efforts and reduce the number of deaths of migrants at sea.
The pair also met three survivors of one of the latest tragedies who were rescued by a commercial vessel and brought to Malta at the weekend.
About 500 migrants are feared to have died after their boat was rammed and sank off the coast of Malta last week. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said witnesses told them the boat left Damietta in Egypt in early September with Syrians, Palestinians, Egyptians and Sudanese on board.
The vessel sank on Wednesday after a group of human traffickers rammed it with another boat.
Four days later, another ship packed with up to 250 African emigrants sank off the Libyan coast, and most of them are feared dead.
The IOM said the latest shipwrecks in the Mediterranean brought the death toll among migrants trying to make it to Europe to almost 3,000 this year.
Jolie and Mr Guterres toured a ship used by the Maltese navy in its operations, with the actress being saluted as she boarded the patrol boat.
Jolie and her new husband Brad Pitt are on a working honeymoon while they are busy on their new film By The Sea.
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