The UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported 18,000 illegal migrants have gone missing on migratory routes across the Mediterranean region from October 2013 to December 2018.
The IOM added that 84,345 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea in 2018, mainly through Spain, the leading destination this year.
The number of illegal migrants from Libya to Europe has witnessed a large decline in 2018 due to the strict measures adopted by the Libyan authorities and the European Union, including Operation Sophia, the EU naval mission targeting human trafficking in the Mediterranean.
IOM’s Missing Migrants Project notes that at least 1,777 people have died or gone missing on migratory routes across the Mediterranean region during the first nine months of 2018 and into October 3, which marks the fifth anniversary of the October 2013 Lampedusa shipwrecks that claimed 368 victims.
In Italy, October 3 became the official Remembrance Day for those migrants – formally titled “National Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Immigration.”
IOM’s Missing Migrants Project (MMP) noted that over 60% of migrant deaths worldwide in 2018 have been recorded in the Mediterranean.
Moreover, the IOM monitored 4,883 migrants and refugees have entered Europe by sea through the first 20 days of 2019, a slight increase over the 4,466 arriving during the same period last year. Deaths on the three main Mediterranean Sea routes through almost three weeks of the year are at 203 individuals, compared to 201 deaths during the same period in 2018.
At this point in 2017 a total of 3,156 migrants or refugees had landed in Greece, Spain or Italy after crossing the Mediterranean.
Nonetheless, the MMP said that January 2019 marks the fourth straight year in which January has seen at least 200 migrants and refugees drowning trying to reach Europe via one of three Mediterranean Sea routes. The worst was in 2016, when 370 people died in January crossings. Those fatality numbers had been dropping – to 254 and 243, respectively, in 2017 and 2018 – and could drop again this month depending on what occurs over the next five days.
