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Mediterranean grows deadlier despite refugee journeys drop in 2016: UN

Tuesday, 25 October 2016 2:38 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 25 October 2016 3:44 PM ]

The picture taken and released by the Italian Red Cross on October 22, 2016 shows refugees landing in Vibo Marina, after a rescue operation in the Mediterranean Sea. (Photo by AFP)

The United Nations says the refugee death toll in the Mediterranean Sea so far this year has almost matched that of all of last year, adding that the journeys to Europe via the body of water are three times more likely to claim lives considering the total number of people making the perilous voyages.

The United Nations refugee agency said on Tuesday that at least 3,740 people have perished so far, almost matching the death toll of 3,771 for all of 2015 when three times as many people, more than one million, took to the sea.

"This is by far the worse we ever have seen in the Mediterranean," William Spindler, spokesman of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told a news briefing in the Swiss city of Geneva.

"You could say that the death rate has increased three-fold,” he concluded.

In March, the European Union signed a controversial deal with Turkey aimed at stemming the flow of refugees into Europe by forcing those deported from the EU to either be allocated in Turkey or go back to the original conflict zones.

Since then, the Libya to Italy route across the central Mediterranean has become the main route as pathways to Greece have been closed down.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Spindler said that one in every 47 asylum seekers attempting the voyage between Libya and Italy is dying.

"Smuggling has become a big business, it's being done almost on an industrial scale. So now they send several boats at the same time and that puts rescue services in difficulty because they need to rescue several thousand people on several hundred boats," he added.

Refugees try to pull a child out of the water as they wait to be rescued in the Mediterranean Sea on October 4, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

Meanwhile, the Italian Coast Guard announced that some 2,200 refugees were plucked to safety in the central Mediterranean in 21 rescue operations on Monday and 16 bodies were recovered.

Joel Millman, the spokesman for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said that at least 17 corpses from the incidents over the weekend were being brought to Italy.

Millman further warned of possibly more deaths, adding, "There may be other shipwrecks that occurred over the weekend that we're learning more about."

Europe has been facing an unprecedented influx of refugees, most of whom are fleeing conflict zones in North Africa and the Middle East, particularly Syria. Last year alone, more than one million refugees made their way into the continent.

Many blame major European powers for the unprecedented exodus, saying their policies have led to a surge in terrorism and war in the violence-hit regions, forcing more people out of their homes.

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