UNHCR: 2016 deadliest year for refugees in the Mediterranean

At least 3,800 refugees have died in the Mediterranean Sea so far this year, making 2016 the deadliest year on record, the UN refugee agency said Wednesday.

“We are receiving more reports of deaths in the Med. We can now confirm that at least 3,800 people have died, making 2016 the deadliest [year] ever,” UNHCR spokesman William Spindler wrote on Twitter.

According to the UNHCR, some 3,771 Mediterranean refugee deaths were reported for the whole of 2015.

Over one million refugees crossed the Mediterranean to Europe last year. This year so far, crossings stand at 327,800.

The International Organisation for Migration reports that 316,331 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea in 2016 through 9 October, arriving mostly in Greece and Italy. Some 167,972 people have arrived in Greece and 144,527 in Italy during 2016. The total is well below the number of arrivals at this point in 2015, when over 520,000 migrants and refugees made the journey.

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