(New York) – An estimated 238,220 migrants and refugees have crossed the Mediterranean Sea into Europe in 2016 through 10th July, up 68 percent on the same period last year, with most arriving in Greece (158,938) and Italy (77,436), the latest data from the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) show.
So far this year an estimated 2,942 deaths have been recorded, compared with 1,838 through the first six months of 2015, and 1,906 through 12th July last year.
IOM Tunisia reported on a shipwreck of a Europe-bound trawler carrying 28 migrants – mainly young adults from Ben Guerdane region of Tunisia. It reportedly sank off the Libyan coast near the city of Sabratha. Reports of bodies recovered and migrants still missing are as yet inconclusive.
Meanwhile, IOM Greece reports there have been no drownings on the Eastern Mediterranean route between Turkey and Greece since March.
However, three migrants died in Greece during June. Two refugee boys from Iraq, aged 12 and 14, were found dead in a municipal water tank in a rural area near Pieria, northern Greece, the organisation said.
(Courtesy WAM)
