The International Organization for Migration (IOM), on Friday, said in Geneva that more than 20,000 migrants died in the Mediterranean since migration in the region started surging in 2014.

According to IOM, the latest mass drowning occurred in early February, when a boat with at least 91 people on board went missing North of the Libyan town of Garabulli.

The IOM’s Chief Migration analyst, Frank Laczko, said the fact that, “IOM reached this grim new milestone reinforces IOM’s position that there is an urgent need for increased, comprehensive search and rescue capacity in the Mediterranean.“

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Since early February, there have been a dozen additional fatalities including three bodies that were washed ashore at a Tunisian beach.

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Since January, some 14,000 migrants have crossed the sea’s Western, Central and Eastern routes to reach European shores, while at least 211 lost their lives or went missing.

In 2019, around 100,000 migrants made it across the Mediterranean and 1,885 died at sea.

Though, deaths has decreased every year since 2016, when more than 5,000 lost their lives in Mediterranean, the proportion of deaths compared to attempted crossing has risen on the central route to Italy and Western route to Spain.

[dpa/NAN]

Vanguard News Nigeria.