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Mediterranean maritime migrant fatalities soar to over 1,200: IOM

Xinhua, April 22, 2016 Adjust font size:

Some 1,232 refugees and migrants have died this year while crossing the Mediterranean to reach Europe, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Friday.

This significant increase follows a tragedy which took place off the Libyan coast earlier this month when an estimated 500 people, mainly from the Horn of Africa, lost their lives.

"Unfortunately the information is still incomplete. 41 people are known to have survived," said IOM spokesperson Joel Millman.

This makes the central Mediterranean route linking North and Italy the deadliest passage for migrants this year. Some 851 people have drowned there over the past four months.

Meanwhile, 376 individuals have lost their lives in attempts to cross the narrow strait of water separating Turkey and Greece.

A further 5 have died on the Western Mediterranean and Western African sea passages.

Latest arrival figures show that 180,245 migrants and refugees have reached Europe by sea in 2016. Most of these entries have been reported in Greece (154,227) and Italy (24,927).

The remaining 1,091 have reached Spain and Cyprus. Enditem