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IOM records highest yearly migrant deaths worldwide

Xinhua, December 16, 2016 Adjust font size:

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Friday that the organization had recorded the highest yearly migrant deaths worldwide since the statistics started, with 7,189 migrants and refugees have died or remain missing on their migratory routes.

IOM registered an average of 20 deaths per day, suggesting the deaths of another 200 to 300 may be recorded worldwide by the end of 2016.

By comparison, the figures recorded by IOM in 2014 and 2015 stood at 5,267 and 5,740 respectively.

As in the previous two years, over 60 percent of the deaths occurred on the three principal Mediterranean routes linking North Africa and the Middle East with Europe.

According to IOM, the number of migrants recorded as dead or missing and presumed dead appears to be rising across all regions, including the Mediterranean, Northern and Southern Africa, as well as in Central America and in the United States-Mexico border region.

Each has already surpassed those recorded in these regions throughout 2015, IOM data showed.

Meanwhile IOM reported 357,249 arrivals of migrants and refugees in Europe by sea by Dec. 14, 2016, with most registered in Greece and Italy, largely down from 883,393 arrivals by the end of November 2015. Endit