IOM: 473,000 migrants crossed Mediterranean into Europe in 2015

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) teams have recorded total arrivals to Europe by sea in 2015 at 473,887 men, women and children, the IOM press room reported on Friday.

At least, 182,000 of those migrants have arrived from Syria—making Syrians just under 40 per cent of this year’s total. In 2014, Syrians comprised between 25 per cent and 33 per cent of those entering Europe by sea.

Deaths on sea routes stand at 2,812 up from 2,661 at the end of August. In other words: an average of just over 8 fatalities per day through the current month.

September 2015 may prove to be less lethal for Mediterranean Sea migrants than September 2014, when between 500 and 800 migrants went missing in a single tragedy off the coast of Malta, when a craft filled with mostly Syrian and Palestinian migrants reportedly was rammed by a smugglers boat after an altercation on the high seas.

Source: MENA