MIGRANT DEATH TOLL AT NEW HIGH

GENEVA // At least 3,800 migrants and refugees died this year trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe, the United Nations said yesterday. “The death toll in 2016 is the highest recorded,” UN spokesman William Spindler said as the figures passed last year’s mark of 3,771. The UN said death rates spiked despite nearly a two-thirds drop in crossings from last year’s one million because smugglers were “often using lower quality vessels, flimsy inflatable rafts that do not last the journey” and appeared to be packing more people on boats. – AFP