More Than 2,500 Dead and Missing As 186,000 Cross Mediterranean In 2023

More than 2,500 people have died or gone missing while trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe so far this year, according to the UN refugee agency.

The agency says that approximately 186,000 people arrived in European countries during the same period.

Director of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office in New York, Ruven Menikdiwela, told the UN Security Council on Thursday that the number of those who died or went missing during the dangerous sea crossing has surged this year, compared with last year.

Menikdiwela said more than 102,000 people attempted to cross the Mediterranean from Tunisia, a 260 percent increase from last year, and more than 45,000 had tried to cross from Libya.

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“Tragically, during this same period, IOM recorded 2,778 deaths, with 2,093 of them occurring along the treacherous central Mediterranean route,” he said, referring to the most dangerous sea crossing.

“Yet, despite its clear dangers, in 2023, there has been an increase in arrivals to Greece along this route of over 300 percent, while the number of arrivals in Spain has remained steady, primarily through the Atlantic route to the Canary Islands as compared to the numbers recorded at the same time last year,” he said.

IOM also witnessed a significant increase in arrivals to Italy, with 130,000 so far this year compared with some 70,000 in 2022.