MOSCOW (Sputnik) — A total of 73,189 migrants and refugees arrived in Europe by sea in 2017, with the majority landing in Italy, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Tuesday.
"The UN Migration Agency (IOM) reports that 73,189 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea in 2017 through 11 June, with almost 85 per cent arriving in Italy and the remainder divided between Greece, Cyprus and Spain," the IOM press release read.
The IOM pointed out that 61,903 migrants arrived in Italy, while 1,717 people died en route to the country. The agency also registered 7,699 migrants’ arrivals in Greece.
According to the press release, a total of 1,808 migrants died in the Mediterranean while trying to cross the sea since January 1, which is less than in the same period last year, when 2,899 people died en route to Europe.
Since 2015, Europe has been experiencing the worst migration crisis in its history, struggling to accommodate hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants fleeing hostilities in the Middle Eastern and North African countries.
