Over 3,000 migrants lost at sea in 2021: UN

GENEVA

More than 3,000 people died or went missing in the Mediterranean and Atlantic while trying to reach Europe last year, double the toll from 2020, the United Nations said on April 29.

A fresh report from the U.N. refugee agency demanded urgent action to combat surging deaths among refugees, asylum seekers and other migrants trying to reach Europe.

Last year, a total of 3,077 people were lost while trying to cross the Mediterranean and Atlantic routes to the continent, the report showed, up from 1,544 in 2020.

“Alarmingly, since the beginning of the year, an additional 478 people have also died or gone missing at sea,” UNHCR spokeswoman Shabia Mantoo told reporters in Geneva. The report showed that for 2021, 1,924 people were reported dead or missing on the Central and Western Mediterranean routes, while another 1,153 perished on the North African maritime route to the Canary Islands.

“Most of the sea crossings took place in packed, unseaworthy, inflatable boats, many of which capsized or were deflated leading to the loss of life,” Mantoo said. The UNHCR report cautioned that land routes were also “dangerous.” Even greater numbers may have died on journeys through the Sahara Desert and remote areas, she added.