Geneva – More than 2,000 migrants and refugees have died this year trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), said on Tuesday.
According to the aid organisation, the death toll is about 20 per cent higher than in the same period in 2014.
Migrants have been arriving in Greece and Italy by boat in roughly equal numbers, but nearly all of the deaths since January have occurred on the route from Libya to the Italian island of Sicily.
The most recent fatal boat incident took place along the Libyan-Italian route on Thursday when 19 migrants died and nearly 460 were rescued.
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“Fourteen of them perished of heat exhaustion and thirst because drinking water had been used to cool the overheated boat engine,’’ survivors said.
The IOM said that the expanded EU sea patrol mission Triton had led to a significant reduction of death rates at sea in the past months, but more needs to be done.
“It is unacceptable that in the 21st century people fleeing from conflict, persecutions, misery and land degradation must endure such terrible experiences and then die on Europe’s doorstep,’’ IOM Director-General William Swing said.
Some 188,000 migrants have been rescued in the Mediterranean so far this year. (dpa/NAN)