Migrant arrivals in Europe top 73,000, deaths 1,808 this year

Geneva, June 13 (IANS/AKI) At total of 73,189 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea this year as of June 11, with almost 85 per cent arriving in Italy, the United Nations migration agency said on Tuesday.

Arrivals to Italy were 61,903 till June 11, with 1,717 deaths, compared with 52,775 arrivals and 2,437 deaths over the same period last year, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said.

This year's figures exclude some 3,000 migrants and refugees rescued in the Mediterranean since last Friday, not all of whom have yet arrived in Italian ports, the IOM said.

Nigerians (9,286 men, women and children) comprised the number one nationality - as they had a year ago. Bangladeshis (7,106) were in second place but registered a massive surge in arrivals from just 20 over the same period last year, the IOM data showed.

Guinea (5,960), Cote d'Ivoire (5,657), the Gambia (4,011), Senegal (3,935), Morocco (3,327), Mali (3,150), Eritrea (2,344) and Sudan (2,327) were the next eight biggest groups by nationality, IOM said.

Some 8,000 Bangladeshis made the journey to Italy from Africa in 2016 while 7,000 had already arrived in the first five months of this year, IOM noted.

--IANS/AKI

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