880 killed in Mediterranean shipwrecks over last week

Other places of arrival were Italy (46 856), Spain (1063) and Cyprus (28).

A deal between the European Union and Turkey to return migrants to Turkey has significantly dampened the migrant sea route into Europe from Turkey to Greece, which hundreds of thousands of people used a year ago. Eight others were reported separately to have been lost overboard from another boat, and four deaths were reported after fire aboard another. Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said in a statement on Monday that despite the continuous arrivals, the numbers are “about the same” as past year and that there are no huge or unsanitary camps in Italy. That estimate -1828 on all known migrant routes – was less than half of the final total for 2015, which came to 3770.

Over one million migrants, many refugees escaping conflict in Syria and other states, arrived in Europe in 2015, with nearly 200,000 arriving so far this year by land and sea routes.

“The events of this past week – with at least 1000 deaths – have obviously changed our assessment”.

The number of arrivals is more than double the almost 92,000 who landed on the continent’s shores during the first five months of 2015, according to the International Organization for Migration, although more than one million made the trip by the end of previous year.

More than 500 people drowned in another shipwreck on Thursday when an overcrowded ship that was being pulled by a fishing boat started to take on water and sank when the fishermen cut the rope that was used to pull the vessel.

A number of small children reportedly drowned in the series of boat accidents over the past week, as thousands continue to attempt the sea crossing to Europe in rickety vessels from the Middle East and Africa. “Everybody was trying to take the water out of boat”. Two suspected human smugglers were reportedly arrested by Italian police once they were brought to land.

Another deadly incident, reported by IOM last Friday, occurred on May 25. The number of dead can only be estimated based on survivor testimony, which is still being collected. Rescue teams who arrived on Sunday saw “many dead bodies floating in the sea”, according to The Guardian. About 280 of those remain missing.

According to survivors, smuggler hubs operating in locations including Niger remain active in feeding people from West Africa through to Libya, where many remain for months before being put onto boats for the crossing to Europe. “We need to crack down on smugglers but simply doing that is not going to work if we don’t offer people an alternative”.

Because the bodies went missing in the open sea, it is impossible to verify the numbers who died.

He said that on a Mediterranean-wide basis, the odds of dying on the crossing are as high as one in 81 and getting worse.

Last week marks only the second time since January 2014 that 1,000 deaths or more on that route have been tallied in a single month – let alone a single week, said IOM spokesman Joel Millman.