UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon set a special meeting on the issue of EU refugee crisis for September 30 ahead of the UN 70th anniversary summit to be held in UN Headquarters in New York, the United Nations said in a statement, Xinhua reported.
The statement comes following over 70 people, reportedly undocumented migrants, were discovered dead in an abandoned truck near Austria's border with Hungary on Thursday.
According to the statement published Friday, Ban is "horrified and heartbroken at the latest loss of lives of refugees and migrants in the Mediterranean and Europe.
"The UN chief highlighted the importance of abiding the international law which stipulates the right of refugees to protection and asylum.
"I appeal to all governments involved to provide comprehensive responses, expand safe and legal channels of migration and act with humanity, compassion and in accordance with their international obligations," - Ban said.
The European Union is currently grappling with a major refugee crisis, with thousands of migrants attempting to reach EU member states through various routes.
Estimates from the EU external border protection agency Frontex show that over 340,000 migrants were detected at the bloc's external borders between January and July 2015, which is three times higher than during the same period in 2014.
In 2015, some 2,370 migrants have died while attempting to reach Europe by sea, according to the International Organization for Migration.
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