UN agency reports ‘unprecedented’ death toll on Mediterranean migration route

(Hanne Cokelaere – Politico) The start of this year has been the deadliest on record for migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea, according to a report from the International Organization for Migration. At least 606 people died in the Mediterranean Sea between Jan. 1 and Feb. 24, an “unprecedented number” for the first months of a year, said the report, published Thursday. The real number may be considerably higher, as there are reports of “hundreds more missing at sea” that have yet to be verified, with 23 bodies having already washed up on Italian and Libyan coasts over the past two weeks, the U.N. agency said. – UN agency reports ‘unprecedented’ death toll on Mediterranean migration route – POLITICO