5,000 Migrants Died in the Mediterranean in 2016
NOVANEWS
A migrant is helped by rescue workers in Malaga, southern Spain, Dec. 3, 2016. | Photo: Reuters
Just under 3,800 migrants perished at sea during 2015, according to UNHCR and IOM figures.
A record 5,000 migrants are believed to have drowned in the Mediterranean Sea this year, following two shipwrecks on Thursday in which some 100 people, mainly West Africans, were feared dead, aid agencies said Friday.
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Two overcrowded inflatable dinghies capsized in the Strait of Sicily after leaving Libya for Italy, the International Organization for Migration or IOM, and the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said.
"Those two incidents together appear to be the numbers that would bring this year's total up to over to 5,000 (deaths), which is a new h...