The number of migrants who have arrived in Europe via the Mediterranean has risen to 97,857 in 2018, according to the International Organization for Migration. Almost 2,000 migrants have died at sea trying to reach Europe this year, the agency reports.
The UN agency for migration, IOM, reports that 97,857 migrants and refugees have arrived in Europe via sea this year as of October 28. The number remains lower than the 147,170 arrivals in the region in the same period of last year, and the 334,914 in 2016. IOM said that the Mediterranean remains a deadly route for migrants, despite a sharp drop in the number of those making the attempt.
The IOM's Missing Migrants Project has documented the deaths of some 1,987 migrants in the first ten months of this year. Over two thirds of these died in the waters between North Africa and Sicily. For the same period last year, at least 2,844 migrants lost their lives crossing the Mediterranean. More than 4,000 died in 2016.
Arrivals in Spain
IOM representative in Spain, Ana Dodevska, said that the total number of arrivals via sea in the country this year as of October 28 was 47,433 men, women and children who had been rescued in the western Mediterranean. The country is the main destination this year for migrants, accounting for 48% of all arrivals.
In October, Spain saw an average of almost 360 arrivals via sea every day, compared with fewer than 115 per day in May and about 270 per day in September. In 2018, Spain has received more undocumented migrants than it had in the previous three years put together.
Arrivals in Greece
The IOM office in Greece reports that from October 26 to October 29, the Greek Coast Guard (HCG) recorded five incidents requiring search and rescue operations off the islands of Lesbos, Samos and Kastellorizo. In those days, HCG rescued a total of 213 migrants and transferred them onto the islands.
The months of September and October saw the highest traffic of undocumented migrants arriving via sea this year so far in Greece. Since September 1, a total of 7,394 migrants and refugees entered the country through the Aegean Sea, an average of 127 per day. The figure is higher than the nearly 80 men, women and children per day seen during the first eight months of 2018.