Mediterranean Migrant Arrivals Reach 328,225; Deaths at Sea: 3,671
25/10/2016
IOM reports that 328,225 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea in 2016 through 23 October, arriving mostly in Greece and Italy. Some 169,302 people have arrived in Greece and 153,450 in Italy during 2016. The total is well below the number of arrivals at this point in 2015, by which nearly 690,000 migrants and refugees had made the journey.
Total arrivals by sea and deaths in the Mediterranean
2015-2016
|
1 January – 23 October 2016
|
1 January – 23 October 2015
|
|||
|
Country of Arrival |
Arrivals |
Deaths |
Arrivals |
Deaths |
|
Italy |
153,450 |
3,195 (Central Med. route)
|
139,594 |
Italy: 2,811 Greece: 335 Spain: 29 |
|
Greece |
169,302 |
414 (Eastern Med. route)
|
545,752 |
|
|
Cyprus |
28
|
|||
|
Spain |
5,445 (as of 30 September)
|
62 (Western Med route) |
3,845 |
|
|
Estimated Total |
328,225 |
3,671 |
689,191 |
3,175 |
An estimated 3,671 people have died trying to make the crossing in 2016. These include 17 bodies recovered in the Channel of Sicily between Friday and Sunday, which are expected to be brought ashore today. The cause of death is unknown. Over 6,700 migrants have been rescued in the Channel of Sicily since IOM’s last report on Friday (21/10).
The death toll does not include victims from an attack off Libya that media reports say may have caused as many as 25 people to drown. IOM Libya continues to seek information about that alleged attack.
Deaths in 2015 through 23 October stood at 3,175 - nearly 25 percent of those from a single shipwreck in April. Last week, Italian Commissioner for Missing Persons Vittorio Piscitelli put the death toll of that shipwreck at between 750-800 people, confirming survivors' initial estimates. Two-thirds of the dead were men between the ages of 20 and 30 and one-third were adolescents aged 15-17. There was one child, a 7-year-old boy. The vast majority of the victims were from West Africa.