2016, Year of Most Deaths in the Mediterranean: UN

Geneva, Oct 26 (Prensa Latina) The year of 2016 will be the most deadly in the Mediterranean, as until the moment at least 3 740 persons died in their attempt to cross this sea, warned today the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

The number of mortal victims is near the one registered in the same period of 2015, 3 771, despite this year three times the number of perrsons made the trip, said in a press round William Spindler, spokesperson for Unhcr.

This year, 327 thousand 800 migrants have crossed the Mediterranean, compared to one million 15 thousand 78 in 2015. Last year for every 269 persons, one died, while now the ratio is one out of every 88.

The route between Libya and Italy is the most lethal as it is longer and more dangerous than that to the east (between Turkey and Greece, which was the most used in 2015.

Another cause of more deaths is that traffickers put the most amount possible of persons in boats incapable of navigating, adds the Agency of the UN for Refugees.

In this situation, Unhcr claimed authorities to find other ways for these persons fleeing war and hunger in countries of Asia, Africa and the Middle East, to migrate legally to Europe.