UN migrant agency records over 1,000 migrant deaths in central Mediterranean in 2023

GENEVA

Over 1,000 migrants died in the central Mediterranean less than halfway into 2023, the Missing Migrants project of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Wednesday.

The figure represents a one-third rise in the number of fatalities over the same period in 2022, the IOM said on Twitter.

“The alarming death toll is unfortunately an undercount. Most migrants’ calls for help go unheard, and their deaths uncounted,” the organization said, noting that “migrants get on unseaworthy boats” every day in search of “safety, protection, or a better life in Europe.”

“We simply cannot become numb to such a staggering loss of human lives,” it urged, calling for concrete action to reduce the loss of lives.

“We call on States to fulfill their legal obligation by prioritizing swift search and rescue operations and expanding safe channels for migrants and refugees,” it concluded.

• central Mediterranean
• IOM
• Migrations