Prensa Latina
United Nations, Jan 6 (Prensa Latina) At least 18,500 migrants lost their life during the last three years, 7,496 of them in 2016, according to preliminary data by the International Organization for Migrations (IOM).
In a report circulated here in the UN Friday, IOM said that the victims in the five continents, trying to get to other countries, unprecedently increased last year, especially when comparing them with the victims in 2014 (5,267) and 2015 (5,740).
IOM general director William Lacy Swing said they are striking statistics. The number of men, women and children who lost their life is much bigger despite the better possibilities of the organization to register victims.
IOM preliminary report reflects that most of the deaths (12,135) and disappearances occurred in the Mediterranean, which is used every day by thousands of people who try to escape from violence and poverty in places such as the Middle East, north of Africa and zones of Asia.
The Southeast of Asia was the second most affected part of the planet in those three years, but in 2016, it was the north of Africa, because of the use of the coasts of Libya as an important place to depart to Italy and Greece.
UN insists on the urgency of adopting integral responses.
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