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Greece sees 2,100 pct rise in refugee, migrant sea arrivals in Jan.: IOM

Xinhua, January 19, 2016 Adjust font size:

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) reported Tuesday that since the start of the year, Greece has registered around 21 times as many refugee and migrant sea arrivals from a year ago, with 31,244 people reaching the country so far this month compared to 1,472 for the whole of January 2015.

IOM explained that such numbers may suggest that maritime arrivals in Greece for 2016 could surpass the record 853,650 individuals who reached the country by sea over the course of 2015.

Figures show that 48 percent of Greece's 2016 arrivals are Syrians, 29 percent are Afghans, 12 percent are Iraqis, 3 percent Pakistanis and 2 percent Iranians.

Other nationalities include Algerians, Bangladeshis, Egyptians, Eritreans, Lebanese and Moroccans.

Between January 1 and January 18 this year, 77 people are reported to have lost their lives while crossing the Eastern Mediterranean sea passage separating Turkey and Greece.

A further 18 people have lost their lives in the central Mediterranean route, meaning that 95 people have perished so far this year on the Mediterranean.

Latest estimates indicate that at least 3,711 migrants lost their lives in 2015 while crossing the Mediterranean, up from 3,279 two years ago. Enditem