Some 60,000 migrant deaths recorded over last 20 years: report

At least 60,000 migrants have died or have gone missing on land and sea routes since 1996, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) revealed in a report published Tuesday.

According to IOM's global report on migrant fatalities -- Fatal Journeys Volume 2: Identification and tracing dead and missing migrants -- the actual number of deaths is likely to be much higher, however.

"There is no central place for families of the missing migrants to report whether or not someone has gone missing or is believed to be dead," director of IOM's Global Migration Data Analysis Centre, Frank Laczko, explained.

"Our report is a rather conservative estimate, but we are able to document through data coming from official sources, NGOs, and media reports that something in the region of 60,000 migrants across the world have died over the last 20 years," he added.

Nine percent of total deaths, representing 5,400 people, lost their lives or were recorded as missing over the course of 2015.

Over 3,400 migrants worldwide have perished since January this year, with over 80 percent of these fatalities recorded in the Mediterranean Sea.

"In this year alone, the rate of deaths across the central Mediterranean route is approximately one in 23 persons," Laczko added.

The official also stressed that more needed to be done to assist the families of missing migrants in tracing and identifying their family members.

This could be achieved by systematically sharing information and creating a joint database to help missing migrants' families.

"Missing migrants tends to be a low priority for many authorities around the world because they are often in irregular situations, they may undocumented and difficult to identify," Laczko explained.

According to IOM, fewer than half the bodies of those who drowned in the Mediterranean last year were recovered. Endit