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The number of migrants killed and missing while trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea into Europe increased by 33% in the first 10 months of 2023 compared to the same period last year.
The Director of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in New York, Ms. Ruven Menikdiwela, announced the above figures at a meeting at the UN Security Council on September 28, emphasizing the dangers that migrants face on this risky sea route.
Specifically, she said that from January 1 to September 24, more than 2,500 migrants died and went missing in the Mediterranean Sea, while the number in the same period in 2022 was 1,680 people.
Ms Menikdiwela once again stressed that the migrant route across the Mediterranean Sea from the coasts of Tunisia and Libya is one of the most dangerous routes in the world.
During the same period, some 186,000 migrants arrived via the Southern European Sea Route in Italy, Greece, Spain, Cyprus and Malta. Of these, more than 130,000 arrived in Italy, an 83% increase compared to the same period in 2022.
In terms of the migrants’ point of departure, between January and August this year, an estimated 102,000 refugees and migrants attempted to cross the Mediterranean from Tunisia and 45,000 from Libya. Ms Menikdiwela added that an estimated 31,000 people were rescued at sea or intercepted and disembarked in Tunisia and 10,600 in Libya.
Faced with heavy pressure from the increasing number of migrants from Africa, Italy has sought intervention from the United Nations and called on the EU to share responsibility to solve the problem.
According to Tin Tuc newspaper