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Unprecedented number of migrant children reach Italy by sea this year: report

Xinhua, October 19, 2016 Adjust font size:

The United Nations's Children Fund (UNICEF) said Tuesday that the first nine months of 2016 had seen more children reach Italian shores than in all of 2015.

More than 20,000 unaccompanied and separated migrant children reaching Italy by sea since January this year, according to the fund.

"Each week hundreds of children arrive here, every one of them has pressing needs, from the fragile new-born babies to the teenagers who have no idea what to expect in a foreign land," said UNICEF's child protection officer Sabrina Avakian in a statement.

"Some of the children are deeply distressed from the journey, they witnessed drownings, some have terrible chemical burns from the fuel on the dinghies, the babies and their mothers need special care in breastfeeding, they all need proper protection and accommodation," she added.

According to figures, over 90 percent of children who made the perilous journey to Italy across the Mediterranean Sea from Africa travelled alone, up from 75 percent last year.

There has also been a rise in the number of children crossing from Egypt, though most still originate from western parts of the continent.

While latest International Organisation for Migration (IOM) figures show that 3,649 people have died attempting to reach European shores by sea this year, the number of child deaths remains unknown. Enditem