GENEVA
More than 102,000 migrants arrived in Europe by sea in the first five months of the year, the International Organization for Migrants (IOM) said on Tuesday.
Between January and May, 54,660 migrants reached Italy, with most departing from Libya, while 46,150 migrants reached Greece after usually setting off from Turkey, IOM spokesman Joel Millman said at a press conference at the U.N.’s Geneva headquarters.
Italy and Greece marked the two major EU destinations for migrants.
"The number [for arrivals in Italy] is slightly ahead of levels reached at this time in 2014 and reflects growing seaborne migration from the Middle East and Africa with most of the landings taking place either in Italy or Greece," Millman said.
He told Anadolu Agency that the arrival figures for Greece were unavailable for the same period in 2014, but that this year they were certainly much higher.
Around 7,000 migrants were rescued off the coast of Sicily on June 6-8.
The U.N.’s refugee agency UNHCR said record numbers of refugees had been arriving by rubber dinghy and wooden boats on the Greek island of Lesbos.
"Around 600 refugees, mainly from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, arrive every day in the Greek islands," spokesman Adrian Edwards said.
According to the U.N., nearly 2,000 migrants have died trying to cross the Mediterranean so far this year.
Last year, around 219,000 migrants arrived on the European coast and 3,500 died at sea.
