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Refugee, migrant deaths continue in Mediterranean since New Year: IOM

Xinhua, January 8, 2016 Adjust font size:

At least 46 migrants and refugees have either lost their lives or been reported missing in the Mediterranean since the beginning of the year, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) announced on Friday.

According to the agency, this represents over half the deaths reported in all of January 2015, with the majority dying in a pair of shipwrecks off the Turkish coast on January 5.

Despite adverse winter conditions compounding the arduous sea journey together with increased policing on Turkey's shores, people hailing from the Middle East, Asia and Africa continue embarking on small and flimsy boats in desperate attempts to reach EU soil.

IOM figures show that 9,930 sea arrivals have already been registered in Greece between January 1 and January 6.

A total of 847,084 maritime arrivals were recorded in Greece last year, compared to only 34,442 for the whole of 2014.

As many as 3,711 migrants are thought to have lost their lives in 2015 while crossing the Mediterranean Sea, up from 3,279 in 2014. Enditem