Last year, 3,116 people did not survive attempt to enter Europe through Mediterranean. That was about 2,000 people less than 2016, when International Organisation for Migration (IOM) registered 5,143 dead boat refugees.

As UN organisation based in Geneva continued to inform, most deaths – 2,832 – occurred on way to Italy. 223 people died off Spanish coast, 61 in waters before Cyprus and Greece.

Both figures of IOM and European border management agency Frontex show that number of illegal migrants has been reversed last year. For example, UN organization recorded a decline of 52.8 percent from 2016 to 2017, and statisticians of Frontex counted 2017 around 60 percent less illegal border crossings than in previous year. This also applies to central Mediterranean route, on which, according to Frontex, 119,000 migrants came to EU.

Record arrival in Spain

At same time, EU border guards on Spanish coast counted so many incoming refugees as never before. 2017 y registered a total of 22,900 illegal border crossings re – twice as many as in year 2016. Most of migrants arriving in Spain refore originate from Algeria, Morocco or West African countries.

Frontex justifies increasing number, above all with better equipment for smugglers. They used better and bigger boats – especially for crossing from Morocco to Spanish mainland – and could thus transport significantly more people.

Date Of Update: 06 January 2018, 12:03