GENEVA, May 26 (Xinhua) — A total of 60,521 migrants and refugees have crossed the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe this year, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) reported Friday.
The Geneva-based agency indicated that more than 80 percent of the arrivals happened in Italy, where 50,267 men, women and children have made their landing since the beginning of the year.
The remaining 10,254 maritime migrants have reached Greece, Spain and Cyprus.
Unsurprisingly, the central Mediterranean route linking North Africa with Italian shores has claimed the most lives, with IOM reporting a death toll of 1,442 this year.
A further 51 individuals have drowned on western Mediterranean passages, while 37 have died on the short stretch of water separating Turkey and Greece.
IOM figure revealed that while far fewer people have reached Europe by sea in 2017 compared with last year, the number of deaths is higher.
Indeed, a total of 1,530 fatalities have been registered since the start of the year, up from the 1,398 deaths recorded for some 193,000 arrivals over the same period in 2016.
