Around 224,000 migrants and refugees have crossed the Mediterranean to Europe in the first seven months of the year, the UN refugee agency said on Thursday.

That number already exceeds the total of 219,000 people who made the perilous journey during all of 2014, which has been the highest number on record until now.

Almost all of the 224,000 refugees and migrants who have crossed the Mediterranean to Europe this year landed in Italy (98,000) and Greece (124,000).

"What we have at Europe's doorstep is a refugee crisis," AFP quoted UN refugee agency spokesman William Spindler as saying.

His comments followed one of the deadliest incidents in which more than 200 people are feared to have drowned off the coast of Libya on Wednesday.

Almost 400 people have been rescued so far from the vessel which capsized and sank while attempting to cross the Mediterranean with an estimated 600 refugees and migrants on board, the UN refugee agency said earlier on Thursday.

UNHCR added that the bodies of a further 25 people had been recovered, but dozens more were still missing and feared dead. Before this tragic event, some 2,100 people have lost their lives trying to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe.

“There is no simple, nor single, answer to the challenges posed by migration. And nor can any Member State effectively address migration alone. It is clear that we need a new, more European approach,” the European Commission said on Thursday.

“From increasing our presence at sea – through our naval operations Triton, Poseidon and EUNAVFOR MED – to cooperating with countries of origin and transit – to this end we will hold a summit in Valetta in November with key African countries – to clamping down on smuggling networks, making returns more effective and showing solidarity with frontline countries, we need to tackle this challenge from all angles,” the EU executive body said in a statement.

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