Geneva – IOM, the UN Migration Agency, reports that 160,067 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea in 2017 through 19 November, with about 75 per cent arriving in Italy and the remainder divided between Greece, Cyprus and Spain. This compares with 345,544 arrivals across the region through the same period last year.

IOM Rome reported Monday (20 November) 114,606 migrants arrived by sea to Italy this year, according to Ministry of Interior figures, which is a nearly 32 per cent reduction from arrivals at this same point in 2016 (see chart below).

IOM Spain’s Ana Dodevska reported Monday total sea arrivals reached 18,818 on19 November, an increase of over 1,000 migrants since IOM’s last report on Friday (17/11). Over the weekend reports of as many as 100 small boats were reported in Spanish media, as hundreds of migrants were rescued and brought to shore.

IOM’s Missing Migrant Project reported that in the Western Mediterranean, three migrants died when the boat in which they were travelling overturned in waters close to the Spanish North-African enclave of Ceuta. The boat was carrying 24 people on board. At least 21 survivors, including two women and five children, managed to reach the shore safely. These deaths bring the total of fatalities in the Mediterranean in 2017 to 2,985, compared to 4,713 through this same date a year ago (see chart below).

Worldwide, Missing Migrant Project (MMP) has recorded the deaths of 5,066 people migrating in 2017. In addition to the three Western Mediterranean drownings over the weekend, MMP recorded deaths in South Asia and along the U.S. Mexico border.
The remains of five Pakistani migrants were found on Saturday (18 November) in the district of Kech in Balochistan province, Pakistan, near the Iranian border. That is the same area where 15 bodies were discovered three days earlier, as IOM reported last week. Initial reports indicate that they were shot when they were planning to cross the border into Iran.

Additionally, one migrant drowned and at least four are still missing off the coast of La Jolla in San Diego County on Sunday (19/11), after they tried to enter the United States from Mexico.
Missing Migrants Project data are compiled by IOM staff but come from a variety of sources, some of which are unofficial. To learn more about how data on missing migrants are collected, click here.

Latest Mediterranean Update infographic: http://migration.iom.int/docs/MMP/171121_Mediterranean_Update.pdf
For latest arrivals and fatalities in the Mediterranean, please visit: http://migration,iom,int/europe
Learn more about the Missing Migrants Project at: http://missingmigrants,iom,int
For more information, please contact:
Joel Millman at IOM HQ, Tel: +41 79 103 8720, Email: jmillman@iom.int
Mircea Mocanu, IOM Romania, Tel:  +40212115657, Email: MMOCANU@iom.int
Dimitrios Tsagalas, IOM Cyprus, Tel: + 22 77 22 70, E-mail: dtsagalas@iom.int
Flavio Di Giacomo, IOM Italy, Tel: +39 347 089 8996, Email: fdigiacomo@iom.int
Kelly Namia, IOM Greece, Tel: +30 210 991 2174, Email: knamia@iom.int
Julia Black, IOM GMDAC, Tel: +49 30 278 778 27, Email: jblack@iom.int
Abby Dwommoh, IOM Turkey, Tel: +90 312 454 3048, Email: MediaIOMTurkey@iom.int
Christine Petré, IOM Libya, Tel: +216 29 240 448, Email: chpetre@iom.int
Ana Dodevska, IOM Spain, Tel: +34 91 445 7116, Email: ADODEVSKA@iom.int
Myriam Chabbi, IOM Tunisia, Tel :  +216 28 78 78 05 (mobile) office: +216 71 860 312 EXT. 109  Email: mchabbi@iom.int