Over 2,200 migrants rescued in Mediterranean: UN

By Fatih Erel

GENEVA

More than 2,200 migrants have been rescued since last Friday in the Mediterranean Sea between Northern Africa and Italy, the UN migration agency said on Tuesday.

"30,300 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea through the first 147 days of 2018, with about 40 percent arriving in Italy, 35 percent in Greece, with the remainder 25 percent arriving in Spain," Joel Millman, the agency’s spokesman, said at a news conference in Geneva on Tuesday.

"This compares with 69,219 arrivals across the region through the same period last year and about 198,346 at this time in 2016," Millman said.

So far, according to the agency, 655 migrants and refugees, who were trying to reach Europe, have died in the Mediterranean this year.

Mediterranean migrant arrivals at this point this year have been running at under half last year’s level on this date, and less than 15 percent of 2016’s volume at this point in the year, Millman said.

This month, migrant and refugee arrivals to Italy (2,638) ranked second, trailing Spain (2,880) and slightly ahead of Greece (2,360), Millman said.

Noting that over 2,200 migrants have been rescued in last four days in Mediterranean Sea, Millman said the biggest migrant landing operation took place last Saturday in Italy's Augusta (Sicily) with over 720 migrants.

"All migrants arrived in Augusta have departed from Libya. There were many Western Africans together with migrants coming from the Horn of Africa," the UN migration agency said.