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Refugee, migrant maritime arrival numbers in Europe surpass 900,000: IOM

Xinhua, December 9, 2015 Adjust font size:

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) on Tuesday estimated over 909,000 migrants and refugees have reached Europe by sea so far this year.

This amounts to four times the number of maritime arrivals recorded in 2014, which stood at 219,000.

Some 3,601 people have lost their lives while trying to reach European shores in 2015, the agency added.

Most deaths have taken place in the Central Mediterranean (2,889 fatalities), while 627 individuals lost their lives on the Eastern Mediterranean route and 85 on the Western Mediterranean and West African routes.

IOM reported worsening weather conditions are rendering sea journeys particularly hazardous. As many as 4,900 migrants were rescued at sea in the Channel of Sicily over the last four days.

To date, 757,278 maritime arrivals have been reported in Greece, 147,740 in Italy, 3,845 in Spain and 106 in Malta. Endit