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IOM: Decline in refugee deaths in Mediterranean

May 25, 2016 at 2:32 pm

The number of migrants and refugees who have been killed trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea in 2016 is 24 per cent lower than during the same period last year, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) revealed yesterday.

In a statement, the organisation said 1,370 deaths were registered this year up to 21 May compared to 1,792 during the same period last year.

The number of migrants and refugees who have entered Europe by sea in 2016 until is estimated to be 191,134, most reaching the shores of Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Spain.

“It is notable that a total of just 13 fatalities have been reported this month in just three incidents, none occurring on the eastern Mediterranean route between Turkey and Greece, where through the first four months of 2016, nearly 400 migrants and refugees drowned,” the IOM said.

“During May 2014, nearly 330 migrants and refugees drowned in the Mediterranean Sea, while another 95 died in May last year,” the IOM reported.