Four migrants a day have drowned in
the Mediterranean trying to reach Italy this year, the office of
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said Thursday.
"Today's dead and missing add to the dramatic death toll of
shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea," Chiara Cardoletti, UNHCR
representative for Italy, said after the latest shipwreck off
Tunisia left 13 dead and 27 missing.
"Since the beginning of the year, an average of four people a
day have lost their lives along the central route, which remains
one of the most active and dangerous routes globally with more
than 75 per cent of the victims recorded in the Mediterranean
over the last decade.
"It is urgent and crucial to restore enhanced and well
coordinated search and rescue operations at European level to
support the valuable work of the Italian Coast Guard".
On the central Med route, migrant traffickers set off from North
Africa and ferry their human cargo towards Italy.
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