Over 250,000 Migrants Arrive in Europe by Sea in 2016 - IOM

Migrants and refugees disembark from a ferry coming from the Greek islands of the north-eastern Aegean sea in the port of Piraeus, near Athens, Greece, 8 March 2016. Photo EPA/BGNES

A total of 251,557 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea in 2016 through 27 July, arriving mostly in Greece and Italy, according to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).

This compared with 220,000 arrivals in the first seven months of last year,

About 20,000 new arrivals by sea have been registered in the two countries in July, the IOM announced on Friday.

The latest discovery of 39 bodies washed up on Libyan shores this week brings the number of casualties to over 3,034 among migrants and refugees who have attempted to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe since the start of the year.

A total of 1,732 irregular migrants have reached Greece by sea so far this month, with a total of 160,109 arriving since the beginning of 2016. According to IOM data, 78,779 Syrians arrived in Greece in the first half of 2016, compared with 475,902 during all of 2015.

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