Mediterranean Migrant Arrivals Reach 57,571 in 2018; Deaths: 1,514

Geneva (IOM)* – IOM, the UN Migration Agency, reports that 57,571 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea through 29 July 2018. That total compares to 112,375 at this time last year.

IOM’s Missing Migrants Project has documented the deaths of 2,323 people while migrating to international destinations in 2018. In the Mediterranean alone, 1,514 people have lost their lives at sea since the beginning of the year.

Most recently, six people died and one went missing in the Eastern Mediterranean. On 29 July, a boat in which 16 people were trying to reach the Greek island of Lesvos capsized off the coast of Ayvalik, Turkey.

The Turkish Coast Guard rescued nine survivors but tragically, six people drowned, including three babies. One person is still missing. In the first seven months of 2018, an estimated 96 people have lost their lives in the Eastern Mediterranean.

In the Western Mediterranean, three Algerian nationals went missing off the coast of Cherchell, Algeria, when the boat in which they were trying to reach Spain capsized on 20 July. Ten survivors were rescued by local civil protection authorities.

On the United States-Mexico border, US Border Patrol agents retrieved the remains of a person in a ranch near Falfurrias, Texas on 26 July.

Missing Migrants Project data are compiled by IOM staff but come from a variety of sources, some of which are unofficial. To learn more about how data on migrant deaths and disappearances are collected, click here.

For latest arrivals and fatalities in the Mediterranean, please visit: http://migration.iom.int/europe
Learn more about the Missing Migrants Project at: http://missingmigrants.iom.int

*SOURCE: IOM – Go to ORIGINAL. 

2018 Human Wrongs Watch