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Global
12 January 2016

Migrant Arrivals in Europe by Sea Reached 18,872 in First 11 Days of 2016: IOM

Italy - Migrant arrivals in Europe by sea averaged over 1,700 a day during the first 11 days of 2016, according to IOM. The period also saw the year’s first fatalities in the Mediterranean between Libya and Italy, a route that took the lives of almost 3,000 migrants and refugees in 2015.

Flavio Di Giacomo of IOM Rome says that on Monday (11/1) Italian authorities in Santa Maria di Leuca (Apulia) recovered the body of a drowned woman, reportedly thrown into the sea by smugglers, together with 37 other Somali migrants who made it to shore safely from the same vessel. Up to eight other migrants are still missing. Another 220 migrants were rescued at sea en route to Italy during the period, according to Di Giacomo.

“The migrants included men and women. From Turkey, they travelled to Greece and then to Italy. When the boat was close to the coast, the smugglers reportedly forced them to jump into the water and swim – even those who did not have life jackets. Women who initially refused were beaten,” he noted.

Arrivals by Sea and Deaths in the Mediterranean 1 - 11 January 2016

Country of Arrival

Arrivals

Deaths

Italy

257

6
(Central Med route)

Malta

0

Greece

18,615

47
 (Eastern Med route)

Cyprus

0

Spain

0

(Western Med and Western African routes)

Estimated Total

18,872

53

Meanwhile IOM Greece reports that irregular migrants and refugees from over 70 countries arrived and were registered by the Greek authorities in 2015.  Syrian, Iraqi and Afghan nationals accounted for nearly 770,000 of some 848,000 arrivals.

REGISTERED ARRIVALS IN GREECE BY COUNTRY OF ORIGIN 2015

AFGHANISTAN                            205,858

HAITI                                                  28

ALBANIA                                             1

ALGERIA                                      1, 353

ANGOLA                                              6

ARMENIA                                            9

BANGLADESH                              3,598

BENIN                                                5

BURKINA FASO                                32

BURUNDI                                          12

BURMA                                            33

CAMEROON                                      864

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC          31

CHAD                                                 2

CHINA                                               46

COLOMBIA                                         2

COMORES                                       50

CONGO                                       1,217

CUBA                                                 2

DARFUR                                             1

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC                    376

EAST SAHARA                                  5

EGYPT                                            541

ERITREA                                         895

ETHIOPIA                                         71

FRANCE                                            2

GABON                                             5

GAMBIA                                        185

GEORGIA                                        3

GHANA                                      281

GUINEA                                       36

HONDURAS                                   2

INDIA                                          177

IRAN                                      22,276

IRAQ                                     86, 989

IVORY COAST                           231

JAMAICA                                      1

JORDAN                                      48

KAZAJSTAN                                   3

KENYA                                          4

KUWEIT                                       50

LEBANON                                1,974

LIBERIA                                      12

LIBYA                                       405

MALI                                        357

MAURITANIA                           37

MOLDOVA                                  2

MOROCCO                           7,368

MYANMAR                              174

NEPAL                                       252

NIGER                                           9

NIGERIA                                    686

OMAN                                            1

PAKISTAN                               23,260

PALESTINE                                6,115

PHILIPPINES                                    4

RUSIA                                              2

RWANDA                                        16

SAUDI ARABIA                               20

SENEGAL                                     143

SIERRA LEONE                               64

SOMALIA                                   4,426

SOUTH AFRICA                               15

SRI LANKA                                     195

SUDAN                                           368

SYRIA                                         475,902

TIBET                                                    6

TOGO                                                  51

TUNISIA                                             118

TURKEY                                              46

TURKMENISTAN                                  3

TZATZIKISTAN                                       7

UGANDA                                            184

UKRAINE                                             3

UZBEKISTAN                                         15

YEMEN                                                353

ZAMBIA                                                    6

TOTAL 847,930

IOM Greece reported that the Greek authorities have taken into custody a total 482 people suspected of involvement in human smuggling. They include 163 Turks, 141 Syrians, 66 Ukrainians, 28 Afghans, 17 Iraqis and 12 Greeks. Other people detained include Russians, Pakistanis, Algerians, Palestinians, Egyptians, a Dane and four citizens of the Dominican Republic.

IOM’s Missing Migrants Project, which draws on a range of sources to track deaths of migrants along migratory routes across the globe is managed by IOM's Global Migration Data Analysis Centre (GMDAC) in Berlin, Germany.

For the latest updates on migrant arrivals and fatalities in the Mediterranean you can also visit: http://migration.iom.int/europe/  

You can also learn more and support the Missing Migrants Project at: http://www.migfunder.com/product/missing-migrants-project

 
For further information please contact IOM Greece. Daniel Esdras, Tel: +30 210 9912174, Email:  iomathens@iom.int  or Kelly Namia, Tel: +302109919040, +302109912174, Email: knamia@iom.int. Or Flavio Di Giacomo at IOM Italy, Tel: +39 347 089 8996, Email: fdigiacomo@iom.int. Or IOM Geneva. Leonard Doyle, Tel: +41-792857123, Email: ldoyle@iom.int or Joel Millman, Tel: +41-79 103 8720, Email: jmillman@iom.int