2016 deaths on Mediterranean to top 3,000

Migration watcher

The International Organisation for Migration says that the number of deaths in the Mediterranean Sea in 2016 is expected to exceed 3,000 in the next few days, the third consecutive year that this level has been reached and the earliest in a single year.

The organisation says 2,977 migrants have died trying to cross the sea so far this year and another two dozen bodies are believed to be on boats now heading towards Italian shores.

IOM spokesman Joel Millman said the 3,000 mark of Mediterranean deaths was reached in September 2014 and in October last year.

Nearly all the deaths this year occurred on the treacherous route between Libya and Italy. Millman said the flow of migrants on the safer, shorter route between Turkey and Greece “has almost disappeared”.