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Close to 19,000 refugee, migrant maritime arrivals in Europe in first days of new year

Xinhua, January 12, 2016 Adjust font size:

Some 18,882 refugees and migrants have reached Europe by sea in the first 11 days of this year, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said on Tuesday.

According to figures, 18,615 individuals arrived in Greece between January 1 and January 10, while 257 migrants and refugees reached Italian soil in the same period.

This period also saw the first loss of life occur in the sea stretch separating Libya and Italy. Known as the Central Mediterranean route, this passage was the deadliest for refugees and migrants in 2015, claiming the lives of almost 3,000 individuals.

At least 53 people are already thought to have died while attempting to reach Europe so far this year, most of them (47) in the Eastern Mediterranean route separating Turkey and Greece.

Latest estimates indicate that at least 3,711 migrants lost their lives in 2015 while crossing the Mediterranean Sea, up from 3,279 in 2014. Endit