MIGRATION: Over 1,500 migrants have lost their lives at sea trying to reach Europe

More than 1,500 people have lost their lives this year in a desperate bid to reach European shores – including Cyprus – by boat.

According to data by the International Organisation for Migration, between January and 12 August 61,517 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea.

This is much lower than the 118,436 arrivals across the region in the same period last year, and 265,640 in 2016.

This year so far, some 1,524 people have died or are presumed missing. During the same eight-month period last year some 2,428 migrants died at sea.

The majority (1,111) were lost in the Central Mediterranean route to Italy, 308 through the western Mediterranean route to Spain, and 105 through the eastern Mediterranean route to Greece and Cyprus.

Regarding Cyprus, in the period between 1/1/2018 – 12/8/2018 108 people came arrived by boat, while in 2017 their number was 273.

In Malta, there were 243 migrant arrivals this year (no data available for 2017), in Greece it was 16,834 (12,191 last year), in Spain 25,101 (8,677 last year) and Italy 19,231 (97,295 in 2017).

These figures are only for arrivals of migrants and refugees by sea.