No exact figures for those who make deadly trips
ROME Migrants seeking a better life in Europe have died by the thousands in the Mediterranean Sea in recent years.
A precise figure is unknown. Authorities count only those bodies found in the sea, on shore or aboard boats where migrants can die of thirst or exposure. Survivors often tell of passengers who died at sea, but the bodies are never found.
Here is a list of some of the deadliest migrant boat events, based on bodies recovered or survivor accounts:
Christmas 1996: 300 believed drowned in the waters between Malta and Sicily.
June 20, 2003: 50 corpses found, 160 migrants missing, 41 survivors in a shipwreck off Tunisia.
May 12, 2008: 50 dead off Sicily, including 47 who died after suffering from exposure.
May 6, 2011: Boat carrying more than 600 migrants is shipwrecked off Libyan coast. Hundreds reported missing.
June 2, 2011: At least 270 missing from boat with 700 aboard sinks off Tunisian coast.
Oct. 3, 2013: 366 people die, 155 survive after shipwreck off Lampedusa.
Sept. 10, 2014: About 500 Syrians, Palestinians, Egyptians and Sudanese drown after their boat is rammed by another boat of human traffickers off Malta.
Sept. 14, 2014: Libyan navy reports 26 rescued from a boat carrying 250 migrants off Libyan coast. About 200 missing and presumed dead.
Feb. 8-9, 2015: At least 29 die and 300 people reported missing after four boats become waterlogged in the frigid sea after leaving Libya.
April 12, 2015: Nine confirmed dead after boat capsizes off Libya. Some of the 144 survivors said about 400 drowned.
April 15, 2015: Christian survivors said Muslim passengers threw 12 migrants overboard when fighting broke out.