2016 deadliest year for Mediterranean migrants: IOM
Xinhua, January 6, 2017 Adjust font size:
A record of over 5,079 migrants and refugees have died while crossing the Mediterranean Sea last year, up from 3,771 fatalities in 2015, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported Friday.
By far the deadliest route for migrants last year, the central Mediterranean passage linking North Africa with Italy claimed the lives of 4,576 people.
A further 503 individuals drowned on the eastern and western Mediterranean routes.
The organization warned however that it believes that many deaths at sea have gone unreported, especially between North Africa and Spain where data collection has been sporadic.
Smaller boats, which pass undetected by authorities, are thought to have been lost on this passage.
While 2016 has been a particularly deadly year for migrants seeking to reach Europe, it was also a year which saw far fewer people reach European shores.
According to preliminary totals for 2016, some 363,348 migrants and refugees reached Europe, down from over one million of two years ago.
Most of last year's arrivals landed in Italy (181,436 arrivals) and Greece (173,561). A further 8,162 and 189 arrived in Spain and Cyprus respectively. Endit