Four Mediterranean Sea shipwrecks in the past two-and-a-half days have caused about 340 migrants to die or go missing, making 2016 the deadliest year on record for asylum seekers risking the dangerous voyage to Europe, a migration organisation said on Thursday.
The shipwreck causalities brings to over 4,500 the number of migrants who have died or disappeared crossing the Mediterranean so far this year, according to the International Organisation for Migration figures.
The total compares with the 3,770 people reported dead or missing last year, the previous record.
The organisation said today that the death toll is rising as smugglers force departures despite rough, winter seas. “What is shocking is the cruelty,” Flavio Di Giacomo, Italy spokesman for the International Organisation for Migration, said.
“The traffickers are forcing people to depart despite the prohibitive sea conditions. When they get to the beach, migrants who don’t want to go are forced to get on board, even with violence.”
Di Giacomo said traffickers care little if the migrants make it alive. “Once you pay, you can’t go back,” he said.
The count from the recent shipwrecks was based partly on the rescue overnight by Doctors without Borders of 27 migrants, who reported that more than 130 people had been on board their
rubber dinghy when it sank, Di Giacomo said. Seven bodies have been recovered.