A heart wrenching photo of a 2-year-old Syrian boy, who drowned while trying to migrate to Europe, has gone viral and garnered worldwide attention for the current refugee crisis in Europe.

The image of the little boy's body, which washed up on a Turkish beach, is symbolic of the desperation and danger that hundreds of thousands of people in the Middle East and Africa face as they flee persecution, war, and other hardships, in what has been called the worst refugee crisis since World War II. These refugees are literally dying for a better life.

According to the United Nations refugee agency, over 300,000 refugees have risked their lives using the dangerous Mediterranean Sea route to reach Greece and Italy from other nations this year, reports USA Today. Last year, about 219,000 people used the route in total. As a result, the agency says that about 2,600 people have died or gone missing along the route this year during this perilous journey.

Last Sunday, 37 people died when a boat capsized off the Libyan coast. This tragedy occurred just days after more than 200 people were killed when another boat capsized off the Libyan coast. Meanwhile, 71 people were found dead and abandoned last week inside of a truck on the main highway between Budapest and Vienna, reports Democracy Now!.

The majority of the refugees are trying to escape violence and unrest in Middle Eastern and African countries like Iraq, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Sudan, Libya and Pakistan. However, most of the refugees are from Syria, where a civil war has plagued the country for more than four years. In addition, large parts of Syria and Iraq have been seized by Islamic State militants.

Thousands of Albanians and Serbs are also trying to make their way to the EU as a result of poor economic prospects in their home countries, said Dušan Reljić, an expert on the Balkans at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, to USA Today.

In response, the European Union will hold emergency talks to address the rapidly growing number of refugees. The U.S. has also pledged to donate $26.6 million to the U.N. refugee agency to help it provide food, water and legal assistance to refugees traveling through Greece, Macedonia and Serbia, reports CBS News.