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Nearly 37,000 migrants, refugee sea arrivals in EU so far this year: IOM

Xinhua, January 22, 2016 Adjust font size:

Some 36,899 migrants and refugees have reached European shores in the first three weeks of 2016, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported Friday.

A breakdown of the figures shows that 35,949 sea arrivals have been registered in Greece until Jan. 20, meaning that some 1,800 individuals have reached Greek soil every day in 2016 to date.

IOM warned earlier this week that current trends may suggest that sea arrivals in Greece for 2016 could surpass the record 853,650 individuals who reached the country over the course of last year.

The agency further indicated that 950 maritime arrivals have been reported in Italy, a significant drop from 2015 when 3,528 migrants and refugees arrived in the country.

Figures reveal that at least 113 people have lost their lives while crossing the Mediterranean this year, 95 on the Eastern Mediterranean route separating Turkey and Greece and 18 on the Central Mediterranean passage linking North Africa to Sicily.

Official estimates indicate that at least 3,711 migrants died in 2015 while crossing the Mediterranean, up from 3,279 two years ago. Endit