missing persons

• France
• United Kingdom

British and French campaigners are warning about the dangers of migrant Channel crossings after an Iranian woman who reportedly fell into the water while trying to reach England went missing last Saturday. It could be the first case of a migrant death in the Channel, a relatively narrow strait with strong currents. But according to testimonies of survivors and community activists, several people have already disappeared.

• Libya
• Tunisia

A boat carrying 86 migrants from Libya sank off the Tunisian coast in the Mediterranean Sea and only three passengers are known to have survived the shipwreck, the UN migration agency said Thursday.

• Afghanistan
• Iraq
• Syria

A report by the UN's migration office said children are dying during migration at alarming rates, most of them perishing on the Mediterranean. The deadliest routes for children are those that involve water crossings.

• Germany
• Italy
• Libya

In its fourth “Fatal Journeys” report, the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) says nearly 1,600 children have been reported dead or missing since 2014. While the number of deaths and disappearances of migrants around the world has dropped overall, according to IOM data, the risk of death along the Central Mediterranean route has increased.

• Italy
• Malta
• United States

Thousands of people lost in crossing the Central Mediterranean have not been identified. New figures from the UN migration agency, IOM, show that remains of more than two thirds of those whose deaths have been recorded have never been recovered.

• Morocco
• Spain

Two boats carrying over 100 migrants were reported missing in the Alboran Sea Tuesday. The Spanish charity Caminando Fronteras has since reported that one boat has returned to Morocco while the other was accompanied by the Spanish maritime rescue service to Motril in Spain.

• Greece
• Italy

In the past three months, more than 310 people are known to have died or gone missing while trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe. This is itself a tragedy, but there is another: Of all the bodies that have been recovered, most will remain unidentified. The families will never find out what happened to them, how they died, or where their remains are.

• Greece

Greek coast guard authorities are searching for two men reported missing in the Eastern Aegean sea. The boat made it to the Greek island of Chios on Thursday with 36 survivors.

• Iraq

"Islamic State" is fighting its endgame with Yazidis waiting anxiously. Angered by Iraqi government silence following reports that IS killed 50 of their women, they are pushing for real action to find 3,000 of their own.

• Germany

Authorities lose track of thousands of unaccompanied child refugees each year. Often they are safe, but experts say alarmingly little is known about their situations, and the government must do more to protect them.

• Germany

Thousands of refugees and migrants in Germany are seeking missing relatives. The German Red Cross says 2,291 new requests were received by its missing persons search service last year. The main countries of origin of those searching were Afghanistan, Syria, Somalia and Eritrea.

• Greece
• Italy
• Libya

More than 18,000 migrants have died or gone missing between October 2013 and December 2018 in the Mediterranean Sea in an attempt to reach Europe, according to a report based on annual figures by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and its Missing Migrants project.