Malta's prime minister Joseph Muscat says European waters close to Africa are turning into a cemetery, after another boat overloaded with immigrants capsized.
Italian and Maltese navy ships recovered more than 30 bodies and rescued 200 migrants on Friday after their boat sank near Sicily.
The disaster came just over a week after at least 330 migrants drowned when a boat sank near the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa, between Sicily and Tunisia.
On Saturday, rescuers pulled another 20 bodies from the sea, raising the toll from that shipwreck to 359.
The loss of life has renewed the debate within EU member states on migration rules, the BBC reports.
Mr Muscat said prompt action between Malta and Italy had saved lives, but he complained that the rest of Europe had supplied only "empty talk".
"I don't know how many more people need to die at sea before something gets done," he said.
"Rules need to change, whether they are tighter or looser is not the issue, the fact is that this thing is broken and it needs to be fixed.
"As things stand we are building a cemetery within our Mediterranean Sea."
In the latest incident, the vessel carrying more than 200 migrants is believed to have encountered difficulties in Maltese waters just before sunset on Friday.
The migrants used a satellite phone to raise the alarm but the boat capsized when passengers crowded to one side as they tried to get the attention of a passing aircraft, the Maltese navy said.
