Switzerland - IOM reports that 16,927 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea in 2017 through 1 March, about 80 percent arriving in Italy and the rest in Spain and Greece. This compares with 132,743 through the first 60 days of 2016. 

No new arrivals to Italy have been recorded since Tuesday. However, IOM Rome spokesman Flavio Di Giacomo says he expects hundreds of newly rescued individuals to arrive in Italian ports starting Friday. Arrivals in Greece since 27 February totaled 163, with no arrivals on March 1, the most recent date for which data is available.

Mediterranean Developments

IOM Libya reported on Thursday (2/3) that 333 migrants traveling on a wooden boat – 305 men, 16 women (4 of whom are pregnant) and 12 children – were rescued by the Libyan Coast Guard off the western city of Az Zawiyah. The rescued migrants were transferred to the Shuhada Al Nasr detention centre.

IOM staff visited the detention centre to assess the needs of the survivors. International Medical Corps – an NGO – is providing medical services. The largest group of those rescued reportedly came from Bangladesh (155), followed by Mali (53), Pakistan (28) and Morocco (15).

This latest Coast Guard operation brings the total number of migrants rescued in Libyan waters in 2017 to 2,535.

IOM’s Missing Migrants Project reports an estimated 487 deaths at sea on various Mediterranean routes through the first 60 days of 2017, compared with 426 fatalities at this point in 2016. The two deaths recorded since last Tuesday’s (28/2) report happened in waters off Spain.
The 2017 fatalities figure represents almost a reverse of the pattern of casualties from a year ago, when 97 deaths occurred between North Africa and Italy and seven deaths were recorded off Spain. Most of the deaths – 322 – were reported between Turkey and Greece.

So far this year it is the Central Mediterranean route from North Africa to Italy – with 444 deaths – and Spain (with 41), which account for all but two fatalities. The remaining two were reported off Greece.

Worldwide, Missing Migrants researchers note that 709 deaths recorded in 60 days demonstrates migrants are perishing at a rate of nearly 12 daily. That is less than the 20 per day recorded during all of 2016, with two important caveats: (1) winter months tend to be the slowest migration season and (2) data remains largely uncounted for many routes this early in the year, especially across Africa.

This trend became pertinent in Libya this week with the discovery in Bani Walid, 100 kms southeast of Tripoli, of 12 bodies of sub-Saharan African migrants. IOM Libya’s Christine Petré reported Thursday that no information had been provided on how they died, but she learned that “118 migrants have been found in the outskirts of Bani Walid area since December 2016, apparently victims of disease or hunger.” None of the 118 was murdered and none had been washed ashore from shipwrecks.

The Missing Migrants Project will seek to determine which of those 118 fatalities should properly count as deaths from 2017 and which from 2016 (or perhaps earlier), while acknowledging a definitive determination may be impossible. 

IOM notes that virtually everywhere data are being collected regularly – Europe, the Mediterranean, Southeast Asia, the Americas – 2017 totals tend to be running slightly ahead of comparable numbers from 2016 (see chart, below). With more information on past migrant deaths still to come, this is an indication that current figures are an undercount of this ongoing tragedy.

Deaths of Migrants & Refugees: 1 January 2016 - 2 March 2016 vs. 1 January - 2 March 2017

For the latest Mediterranean Update infographic:  http://migration.iom.int/docs/MMP/170302_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 further information please contact:
Joel Millman at IOM Geneva, Tel: +41 79 103 8720, Email: jmillman@iom.int
Flavio Di Giacomo at IOM Italy, Tel: +39 347 089 8996, Email: fdigiacomo@iom.int
Sabine Schneider at IOM Germany, Tel: +49 30 278 778 17 Email: sschneider@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
Abby Dwommoh, IOMTurkey; Tel. (Direct): +90 (0)312 454 3048, Mobile: +90 (533) 698 7285, Email: adwommoh@iom.int or Mazen Aboulhosn, Tel: +9031245-51202, Email: maboulhosn@iom.int
IOM Libya: Othman Belbeisi, Tel: +216 29 600389, Email: obelbeisi@iom.int  or Christine Petré, Tel. (Direct):  +216 29 240 448, Email: chpetre@iom.int
Hicham Hasnaoui at IOM Morocco, Tel: + 212 5 37 65 28 81, Email: hhasnaoui@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