2016 sees significant increase of migrant deaths in Mediterranean

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported Friday that 4,636 migrants and refugees died crossing the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe this year, marking 1,000 more fatalities than those recorded over the same period in 2015.

This year's latest death toll follows a deadly spree of shipwrecks in the Mediterranean which saw an estimated 365 migrants go missing after six boats capsized in the past three days.

"What is really of great concern about these shipwrecks is that the bad weather did not stop the human smugglers from forcing people onto these unsafe dinghies," IOM spokesman Flavio Di Giacomo said in a written statement.

"From the first testimonies that we collected so far, it seems that the migrants were forced on board, even though they were clearly afraid of the rough seas. It was extremely dangerous in bad weather," he added.

According to IOM figures, most deaths this year (4,154) have been recorded on the central Mediterranean route linking North Africa with Italy.

A further 420 fatalities have been documented on the eastern Mediterranean passage separating Turkey and Greece, while 62 people lost their lives on Western Mediterranean routes.

A total of 343,589 migrant sea arrivals have been registered on European shores since the start of the year, down from close to 729,000 between January and October last year. Endit