More than 2,500 people have died or gone missing while trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe so far this year, the UN refugee agency UNHCR said on Thursday.
Approximately 186,000 people have arrived in European countries during the same period. Of this, 130,000 have arrived in Italy, marking an 83% increase compared to last year. Others landed in Greece, Spain, Cyprus and Malta.
Ruven Menikdiwela, director of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office in New York, told the UN Security Council on Thursday that the land journey from sub-Saharan African countries to sea crossing departure points on the Tunisian and Libyan coasts “remains one of the world’s most dangerous”.
“Lives are also lost on land, away from public attention,” Menikdiwela said.
As for the origin of the migrants, 102,000 crossed the Mediterranean from Tunisia and another 45,000 from Libya. Roughly 31,000 people were rescued at sea or intercepted and disembarked in Tunisia and 10,600 in Libya.
Pär Liljert, Director of the International Organization for Migration Office to the United Nations, also addressed the council backing the data shared by Menikdiwela.
“Tragically, during this same period, IOM recorded 2,778 deaths, with 2,093 of them occurring along the treacherous central Mediterranean route,” he said.
