Migrant deaths at sea exceed 5,000

AROUND 100 people are missing and feared dead after two shipwrecks off Italy, raising the estimated death toll among migrants in the Mediterranean this year to at least 5,000.

Deaths linked to Mediterranean crossings by migrants mostly seeking economic opportunity or relative peace in Europe have spiked in 2016.

Last year, over one million people crossed the sea – mostly from Turkey to Greece – with 3,771 deaths recorded. This year, about 360,000 people have successfully crossed, most between Libya and Italy, with far more deadly results.

“The latest information we have is that yesterday, in two incidents, as many as 100 people lost their lives,” said William Spindler, a spokesman for the UN refugee agency UNHCR.

“The number of people who have lost their lives on the Mediterranean this year has now passed 5,000.

“That means that on average, 14 people have died every single day this year in the Mediterranean trying to find safety or a better life or safety in Europe.”

International Organisation for Migration spokesman Joel Millman said that at least 57 people were feared dead following the capsizing of a rubber dinghy carrying between 120 and 140 people and eight bodies had been recovered. Another 40 people are feared dead from another dinghy also carrying about 120 people.

The UNHCR said the Italian coastguard carried out a total of four rescue operations in the central Mediterranean on Thursday, including the rescue of about 175 people from another dinghy and a wooden boat.