IOM says 27 pct drop in migrant deaths crossing Mediterranean

A total of 1,357 refugees and migrants have drowned since the start of the year while crossing the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe, compared to 1,733 fatalities over the same period a year ago, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported Tuesday,

Representing a 27 percent year-on-year drop, IOM indicated that the first four months of 2015 were much deadlier in absolute and relative terms for those attempting to reach EU shores by sea.

Maritime arrivals until April 30 totaled almost 184,000 this year compared to the 48,636 entries recorded a year ago over the same four-month period.

IOM spokesman Joel Millman warned that this dip in deaths was largely due to a change in migration patterns.

"We know that for the beginning of this year more migrants were traveling the Turkey-Greece route which is a shorter trip, whereas more last year were traveling from Libya to Italy," he said.

"That remains a deadly route and the reason that deaths are slightly down this year is because it was not the preferred route this year, but it is becoming the preferred route so we're very mindful of what could be coming in the next few months," he added.

Statistics show that 976 people have died on the central Mediterranean passage linking North Africa with Italy this year.

A further 376 have died on the eastern Mediterranean route separating Turkey and Greece, while five have died on the Western Mediterranean and Western African routes. Enditem