Mediterranean migrant deaths rise on last year
GENEVA- At least 219 migrants and refugees are believed to have drowned in the Mediterranean already this year, more than double than during the same period a year ago, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Tuesday.
Following interviews with four survivors of a weekend shipwreck, the agency said nearly 180 people were feared to have been aboard a boat that capsized off the coast of Libya, not 110 as earlier thought.
"So it's almost twice the number of casualties which brings the year total already two weeks into the year to 219 deaths on the Mediterranean," IOM spokesman Joel Millman told a news briefing in Geneva.
The Italian coastguard said the boat had not been found so there was no way to determine the number of passengers. Survivors were taken to Sicily on Monday.
