Refugees in the Mediterranean: Already more than 1,400 dead since January

The death toll is 40% higher than it was feared, reported the Organization for Migration (IOM) Tuesday in Geneva – just one day after seeing the 1,000 threshold exceeded. In 2017, 2268 people were killed in the same period.

These are not new tragedies, said Julia Black of the IOM Data Analysis Center in Berlin. On the contrary, the new figures returned to accidents on June 19 and 20. The figures mentioned by the missing persons could now only be verified by the IOM. According to this report, at least 215 people were killed during these three days over these three days

Not all tragedies are known

The latest statistics also include the 218 people who drowned since last Friday. It's a boat that capsized off the north coast of Tripoli on Friday. According to IOM data, probably 104 people were killed. Sunday, a boat with refugees went to the east of Tripoli. That's probably 114 people were killed. "In the last two weeks, at least 34 bodies have been stranded on the shores of Libya," said Black.

On June 27, IOM officially reported 972 deaths. Emergency workers assume that the number is much higher because not all tragedies are known.

The number of newcomers has decreased

Overall, the number of newcomers to Europe on the various routes in the Mediterranean has decreased considerably. This year, according to IOM figures, it was 45,808 up to July 1, compared to more than twice the previous year: at that time, it was 100,923. [19659002] In Italy, the number of arriving refugees was based on this statistic In Greece and Spain, however, they increased sharply. In Italy, therefore, 16,585 people arrived on July 1, 80% less than at the same time last year. In Greece, the number has increased by 50 per cent to 13,507 persons and in Spain by nearly 140 per cent to 15,426 persons. (SDA)

Posted on 03.07.2018 | Last updated 5 minutes ago