GENEVA: The United Nations migration agency has said that a total of 8,565 migrants died on land and sea routes across the world last year.
The International Organization for Migration in a report on Wednesday, said the biggest increase in deaths last year was during Mediterranean Sea crossing, to 3,129 from 2,411 in 2022.
It said 5,136 deaths were recorded on the Mediterranean in 2016 including Syrians, Afghans and others fleeing conflict zones toward Europe.
The IOM said the total number of migrants’ deaths in 2023 was about 20 percent more than the last year.
It added that majority of the deaths last year, about 3,700, occurred from drowning. The number also includes migrants who went missing while trying to cross by sea and are presumed dead.
The Geneva-based migration agency warned that the figures might be less that the actual death.
IOM Deputy Director General Ugochi Daniels in a statement said that every death is a terrible human tragedy.
Overall, the biggest increase in deaths in recent years was noted in in Asia, where 2,138 migrants died last year.
IOM said a record number of deaths also took place in Africa last year with 1,866 people died mostly in the Sahara Desert and along the sea route to the Canary Islands.
The agency referred difficulties in collection of data in remote areas, such as Darien Gap between Colombia and Panama, used by migrants from South America on their way north.
