At least 100 people missing, feared dead, as UN refugee agency says number of deaths in 2016 has passed 5,000

About 100 people are missing and feared dead after two boats capsized off Italy, increasing the estimated death toll among migrants in the Mediterranean this year to at least 5,000, a record, UN agencies have said.

Deaths linked to Mediterranean crossings by migrants trying to reach Europe have spiked in 2016. Last year, 3,771 deaths were recorded as more than a million people made the journey, mostly from Turkey to Greece. This year, about 360,000 people have crossed, most between Libya and Italy, with far more deadly results.

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“The latest information we have is that yesterday [Thursday], in two incidents, as many as 100 people lost their lives,” said William Spindler, a spokesman for the UN refugee agency, UNHCR.

“The number of people who have lost their lives on the Mediterranean this year has now passed 5,000,” he said. “That means that on average, 14 people have died every single day this year in the Mediterranean trying to find safety or a better life in Europe.”

Citing survivors’ accounts, Joel Millman, a spokesman for the International Organisation for Migration, said that at least 57 people were feared dead after a rubber dinghy carrying between 120 and 140 people capsized on Thursday. A number of women and children were believed to have been among those on board.

He said eight bodies had been recovered. A further 40 people were feared dead from another dinghy also carrying about 120 people. Millman said he did not immediately have more details.

UNHCR said the Italian coastguard had carried out four rescue operations in the central Mediterranean on Thursday, including the rescue of about 175 people from another dinghy and a wooden boat. The rescued survivors were taken to the western Sicilian town of Trapani, from where they are expected to be transported to reception centres.



A further 417 people who have been rescued in other operations since Thursday were expected to be landed at the port of Augusta in eastern Sicily, according to a UNHCR spokesperson, who said emergency activities at sea were “non-stop”.

Among possible causes for the increase in deaths in the Mediterranean this year, the agency cited a worsening quality of vessels and smugglers’ tactics to avoid detection by authorities, such as sending many boats out at the same time, which makes the work of rescuers harder.

More asylum seekers have reached Italy by boat in 2016 than in any previous year on record. Statistics compiled by UNHCR and the Italian government and released last month revealed that the total had surpassed the previous record of 170,000 set in 2014.

The spike comes after migration flows in the eastern Mediterranean between Turkey and Greece were drastically reduced following actions by both states, and the closure of a humanitarian corridor between Greece and Germany.

Médecins Sans Frontières broadcast footage of rescue operations in the Mediterranean on Thursday night on Twitter. It said more than 112 men, women and children had been taken on board the Aquarius, a search-and-rescue ship the charity runs in partnership with SOS Méditerranée.



MSF Sea (@MSF_Sea) 112 men, women and children are now onboard #Aquarius. Tonight they will sleep safe and full of hope for the first time in months. pic.twitter.com/KU4zWpfTPk

Images showed dozens of people being taken on board in heavy rain and later being provided with food and assistance. Spanish naval vessels were reported to have been involved in rescuing people from at least two other boats.



UNHCR said the latest incidents highlighted what it described as an urgent need for states to increase pathways for the admission of refugees, such as resettlement and family reunification programmes, so they did not have to resort to dangerous journeys and the use of smugglers.

“The causes for the alarming increase in deaths this year are multiple but appear to be related to the declining quality of the vessels used by people-smugglers, the vagaries of the weather and the tactics used by smugglers to avoid detection by the authorities. These include sending large numbers of embarkations simultaneously, which makes the work of rescuers more difficult,” the agency said in a statement.

The IOM said it believed many more deaths at sea may have gone unreported this year, particularly on journeys from North Africa to Spain, where data collection had been sporadic. Many smaller vessels were believed to have been lost without detection.

A spokesperson for the organiation in Rome, Flavio Di Giacomo, said the number of shipwrecks reflected the poor state of the boats used by the refugees and the current harsh weather conditions at sea. “We are seeing more migrants crossing this winter. This trend confirms the fact that conditions in Libya are becoming increasingly dangerous for migrants, who are often trying to flee the country in order to save their lives,” he said.

“Many people have told us that they didn’t want to come to Europe when they left their country of origin. For many of them the destination country was Libya. But what they found there was abuse and violence. As a consequence, they decided to try the sea crossing, putting their lives in the hands of unscrupulous smugglers, who forced them to embark on vessels unfit to sail. These shipwrecks cannot be therefore considered mere ‘incidents’. They are the consequence of criminal behaviour by smugglers.”