The International Organization for Migration said measures enacted by governments against the spread of the coronavirus, as well as the drop in the presence of search-and-rescue ships in the Mediterranean, are sparking concern over "invisible" migrant shipwrecks.
The UN's International Organization for Migration (IOM) on Friday expressed grave concerns for the fate of hundreds of migrants returned to Libya by the coast guard this year who are now unaccounted for. The organisation stressed that it is ''unacceptable for people rescued at sea to be returned to abuse, trafficking, and war'' and reiterated its call to the European Union for urgent action to establish a clear and swift disembarkation mechanism to end returns to Libya.
Dozens of migrants fled the port of the Libyan capital Tripoli on Friday amidst shelling. Around 280 migrants were held there after Libyan coast guards intercepted them in their attempt to reach Europe by boat. Libya had classified its own ports unsafe and denied the landing.
Frontex said Sunday it is searching for a rubber dinghy that went missing after it set sail from Libya to Italy. The boat is believed to be carrying around 85 migrants. International organizations and NGOs fear the boat has capsized.
There were at least 5,303 people who died on their migration journeys last year, according to new data released by the Missing Migrants Project. The largest number of deaths were recorded on the African continent and on the Mediterranean route.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has reported that more than a dozen recent shipwrecks off the coast of Libya and elsewhere have pushed the death toll in the Mediterranean Sea since 2014 to over 20,000.
How do you look for a loved one who has gone missing during a migration journey? There are several places you can turn to for help.
Nearly 1,300 migrants drowned in the Mediterranean in 2019, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said in a statement published on January 3. The 1,282 drownings were 44% down on 2018, it said. The number of deaths since 2014 was now 19,164, IOM reported.
At least eight migrants are dead and another 24 are missing after a boat, thought to have been carrying between 90 and 100 migrants, capsized within sight of Spain’s southern coast just before dawn on December 16.
The Spanish coastguard reported four migrants dead and 16 more missing on Wednesday, November 27, after an attempt to cross the Mediterranean from North Africa to Europe failed. The migrants were traveling on a small raft that sank near the Spanish enclave Melilla.
Even as a migrant rescue ship disembarks 88 asylum-seekers in an Italian port, a UN official says the Mediterranean isn't the most dangerous place for migrants. Many more die trying to reach the coast than in the sea.
Some of the women who died in a shipwreck in the Mediterranean on Sunday night were pregnant, according to Italian authorities. More than 50 migrants were on board the boat that capsized off the coast of Lampedusa. At least 17 people remain missing.