Mediterranean Migrant Arrivals Reach 302,486; Deaths at Sea: 3,502

Italy - IOM reports that 302,486 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea in 2016 through 28 September, arriving mostly in Greece and Italy. Some 166,610 people have arrived in Greece and 132,044 in Italy during 2016.
Total arrivals on the Mediterranean through the month of September in 2015 were 518,181 – nearly 60 percent higher.

The death toll, however, is considerably higher in 2016 than in 2015. This year some 3,502 men, women and children have been reported drowned or missing in incidents occurring off Egypt, Libya, Greece, Italy, Turkey, Morocco and Spain. In 2015 at this time the total was 2,926. 

Mediterranean Developments

Total arrivals by sea and deaths in the Mediterranean 2015-2016

This morning IOM Turkey is reporting that Thursday, around 9:40 AM local time, the Turkish Coast Guard rescued near Bodrum at least three migrants and refugees from a foundering vessel and recovered the remains of six dead passengers.  The Coast Guard reports one survivor, a Pakistani national, who said he was among 31 migrants on the vessel.

The Turkish Coast Guard now reports 21 migrants remain missing, while their search operation is ongoing. If no other survivors are recovered, this latest tragedy will add 27 new fatalities to the Missing Migrants Project’s Mediterranean total – tentatively at 3,529 – or over 600 more deaths than were recorded in the Mediterranean through all of September 2015.

IOM’s Cairo office reported this week that the number of deaths from a shipwreck off the Egyptian coast, on Wednesday, 21 September, has now risen to 204. Nearly half were Egyptian nationals, many of them children. At least 20 more were from the Horn of Africa.

“Local papers estimate the number of people on the boat at between 450 and 600,” said Christine Beshay, IOM Cairo Communications Officer.  “So far, we do not have any verification for that number. Based on the number of survivors and recovered bodies, between 80 and 230 migrants are still missing.”

This brings IOM’s estimated death toll from this latest shipwreck to between 285 and 334 persons. That figure, together with the 3,213 IOM’s Missing Migrants Project reported as Mediterranean fatalities earlier this month, puts total fatalities in the Mediterranean in 2016 to at least 3,500 – almost as many as all of  2015, and at least 200 more than died during all of 2014. 

On Thursday (29/09), IOM Athens reported that the Hellenic Coast Guard rescued 140 migrants off the coast of Turkey this week in five separate incidents and transferred them to safety. Through the first 28 days of September 2,776 men, women and children landed on Greek islands – which is just under 100 per day. That number is consistent with the daily average number of arrivals during August, when 3,429 migrants and refugees entered Greece by sea.

* Unofficial data collected by IOM Greece and the Greek authorities of arrivals by sea.

Arrivals in Greece by sea and land

For the latest Mediterranean Update infographic: 
https://missingmigrants.iom.int/sites/default/files/Mediterranean_Update_30_September_2016.pdf

For latest arrivals and fatalities in the Mediterranean, please visit: http://migration.iom.int/europe
Learn more about Missing Migrants Project at: http://missingmigrants.iom.int

For further information please contact:
Flavio Di Giacomo at IOM Italy, Tel: +39 347 089 8996, Email: fdigiacomo@iom.int 
IOM Greece: Daniel Esdras, Tel: +30 210 9912174, Email:  iomathens@iom.int   or Kelly Namia, Tel: +30 210 9919040, +30 210 9912174, Email: knamia@iom.int 
Julia Black at IOM GMDAC, Tel: +49 30 278 778 27, Email: jblack@iom.int
Mazen Aboulhosn at IOM Turkey, Tel: +9031245-51202, Email: aboulhosn@iom.int
Joel Millman at IOM Geneva, Tel: +41.79.103-8720, Email: jmillman@iom.int
IOM Libya: Othman Belbeisi, Tel: +216 29 600389, Email: obelbeisi@iom.int  or Ashraf Hassan, Tel: +216297 94707, Email: ashassan@iom.int
Christine Beshay, IOM Egypt. Tel: + 20 2 273 651 40/1 Email: cbeshay@iom.int

For information or interview requests in French:
Florence Kim, OIM Genève, Tel.: +41 79 103 03 42, Email: fkim@iom.int
Flavio Di Giacomo, OIM Italie, Tel: +39 347 089 8996, Email: fdigiacomo@iom.int