- Title: Migrant death toll in Mediterranean tops 1,000 for 6th year - UNHCR
- Date: 1st October 2019
- Summary: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND (OCTOBER 1, 2019) (REUTERS) UNITED NATIONS BUILDING VARIOUS OF NEWS BRIEFING IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNITED NATIONS OFFICE OF THE HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES (UNHCR) SPOKESWOMAN, LIZ THROSSELL, SAYING: "The figures do show that we have passed the very sad milestone of 1,000 deaths so far in 2019 and that is the sixth year in a row that we have passed 1,000 deaths. What I can stress is of course the numbers of people attempting to cross the Mediterranean are much lower. So, that points to the fact that the journeys themselves are much more dangerous. It is also worth highlighting that 70 percent of the deaths, actually occurred on the central Mediterranean, namely people attempting to get from Libya across to Italy or Malta."
- Embargoed: 15th October 2019 14:42
- Keywords: sea rescue Mediterranean Sea IOM rescue operations migrant death toll United Nations refugee agency International Organization for Migration refugees Migrants UNHCR
- Location: KHOMS, LIBYA / GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / MESSINA, ITALY
- City: KHOMS, LIBYA / GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / MESSINA, ITALY
- Country: Switzerland
- Topics: Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA002AZ9O6KN
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: More than 1,000 migrants have died in the Mediterranean Sea this year, the sixth year in a row that that "bleak milestone" has been reached, the United Nations refugee agency said on Tuesday (October 1).
"The figures do show that we have passed the very sad milestone of 1,000 deaths so far in 2019 and that is the sixth year in a row that we have passed 1,000 deaths," UNHCR spokeswoman Liz Throssell told Reuters.
Throssell added that fewer migrants had attempted the perilous journey across the Mediterranean with over 63,000 in 2019 compared to 141,472 in 2018, adding that the numbers show that "the journeys themselves are much more dangerous".
Throssell also underlined the "incredibly important" played by NGO boats in sea rescue operations.
More than 18,000 people have lost their lives in Mediterranean crossings since 2014, according to figures from both the UNHCR and the website of the U.N.'s International Organization for Migration (IOM).
(Production: Cecile Mantovani) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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