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30,000 new refugees, migrants arrive in Greece by sea in Dec.

Xinhua, December 12, 2015 Adjust font size:

The International Organization for Migrants (IOM) on Friday said that despite worsening weather conditions, large numbers of migrants and refugees are continuing to arrive in Greece by sea from Turkey.

IOM said that according to Greek police and IOM field staff, over 30,000 migrants and refugees have arrived since the beginning of December, and some 735,000 migrants crossed into Greece the first 11 months of the year.

The number of fatalities in the Aegean has also risen in December, IOM said, with some 25 people being believed to have died in two shipwrecks off the coasts of Farmakonisi on Dec. 3 and Dec. 9 respectively, and 15 are still missing.

The total number of recorded migrant deaths in the Mediterranean this year now stands at 3,671, including 2,889 on the Central route from North Africa to Italy, 684 on the Eastern route from Turkey to Greece, and 94 on the route from West Africa.

Also according to IOM, at Greece's border with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), police reported that 23,707 Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans crossed border between Nov. 30 and Dec. 8, while other nationalities were turned back. Endit