Mediterranean migrant deaths reach record level in 2016

By Laura Smith-Spark, CNN
Updated 12:08 PM EDT, Wed October 26, 2016

Story highlights

According to the United Nations, 3,771 lives were lost during 2015

Many migrants have died trying to reach Italy from Libya

(CNN) —  

This year has become the deadliest for migrants crossing the Mediterranean bound for Europe, the UN refugee agency said Wednesday, with those seeking to make the journey from Libya at greatest risk.

“We can now confirm that at least 3,800 people have died, making 2016 the deadliest ever,” William Spindler, a spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, wrote on Twitter.

According to UN Radio, 3,771 lives were lost during 2015, the previous highest number.

“This is the worst we have seen,” Spindler told journalists at a briefing Tuesday in Geneva, Switzerland, as the grim record for 2016 loomed.

A woman cries after being rescued in the Mediterranean Sea about 15 miles north of Sabratha, Libya, on July 25, 2017. More than 6,600 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea in January 2018, according to the UN migration agency, and more than 240 people died on the Mediterranean Sea during that month.
Photos: Europe's migration crisis in 25 photos
A woman cries after being rescued in the Mediterranean Sea about 15 miles north of Sabratha, Libya, on July 25, 2017. More than 6,600 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea in January 2018, according to the UN migration agency, and more than 240 people died on the Mediterranean Sea during that month.
PHOTO: Santi Palacios/AP
Refugees and migrants get off a fishing boat at the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey in October 2015.
Photos: Europe's migration crisis in 25 photos
Refugees and migrants get off a fishing boat at the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey in October 2015.
PHOTO: Antonio Masiello/NurPhoto via ZUMA Press
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Migrants step over dead bodies while being rescued in the Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Libya in October 2016. Agence France-Presse photographer Aris Messinis was on a Spanish rescue boat that encountered several crowded migrant boats. Messinis said the rescuers counted 29 dead bodies -- 10 men and 19 women, all between 20 and 30 years old. "I
Photos: Europe's migration crisis in 25 photos
Migrants step over dead bodies while being rescued in the Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Libya in October 2016. Agence France-Presse photographer Aris Messinis was on a Spanish rescue boat that encountered several crowded migrant boats. Messinis said the rescuers counted 29 dead bodies -- 10 men and 19 women, all between 20 and 30 years old. "I've (seen) in my career a lot of death," he said. "I cover war zones, conflict and everything. I see a lot of death and suffering, but this is something different. Completely different."
PHOTO: ARIS MESSINIS/AFP/Getty Images
Authorities stand near the body of 2-year-old Alan Kurdi on the shore of Bodrum, Turkey, in September 2015. Alan, his brother and their mother drowned while fleeing Syria. This photo was shared around the world, often with a Turkish hashtag that means "Flotsam of Humanity."
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Authorities stand near the body of 2-year-old Alan Kurdi on the shore of Bodrum, Turkey, in September 2015. Alan, his brother and their mother drowned while fleeing Syria. This photo was shared around the world, often with a Turkish hashtag that means "Flotsam of Humanity."
PHOTO: DOGAN NEWS AGENCY/EPA/LANDOV
Migrants board a train at Keleti station in Budapest, Hungary, after the station was reopened in September 2015.
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Migrants board a train at Keleti station in Budapest, Hungary, after the station was reopened in September 2015.
PHOTO: Matt Cardy/Getty Images
Children cry as migrants in Greece try to break through a police cordon to cross into Macedonia in August 2015. Thousands of migrants -- most of them fleeing Syria
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Children cry as migrants in Greece try to break through a police cordon to cross into Macedonia in August 2015. Thousands of migrants -- most of them fleeing Syria's bitter conflict -- were stranded in a no-man's land on the border.
PHOTO: GEORGI LICOVSKI/EPA/LANDOV
The Kusadasi Ilgun, a sunken 20-foot boat, lies in waters off the Greek island of Samos in November 2016.
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The Kusadasi Ilgun, a sunken 20-foot boat, lies in waters off the Greek island of Samos in November 2016.
PHOTO: Alexis Malagaris/Samos Divers Association via AP
Migrants bathe outside near a makeshift shelter in an abandoned warehouse in Subotica, Serbia, in January 2017.
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Migrants bathe outside near a makeshift shelter in an abandoned warehouse in Subotica, Serbia, in January 2017.
PHOTO: Srdjan Stevanovic/Getty Images
A police officer in Calais, France, tries to prevent migrants from heading for the Channel Tunnel to England in June 2015.
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A police officer in Calais, France, tries to prevent migrants from heading for the Channel Tunnel to England in June 2015.
PHOTO: PHILIPPE HUGUEN/AFP/Getty Images
A migrant walks past a burning shack in the southern part of the "Jungle" migrant camp in Calais, France, in March 2016. Part of the camp was being demolished -- and the inhabitants relocated -- in response to unsanitary conditions at the site.
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A migrant walks past a burning shack in the southern part of the "Jungle" migrant camp in Calais, France, in March 2016. Part of the camp was being demolished -- and the inhabitants relocated -- in response to unsanitary conditions at the site.
PHOTO: PHILIPPE HUGUEN/AFP/Getty Images
Migrants stumble as they cross a river north of Idomeni, Greece, attempting to reach Macedonia on a route that would bypass the border-control fence in March 2016.
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Migrants stumble as they cross a river north of Idomeni, Greece, attempting to reach Macedonia on a route that would bypass the border-control fence in March 2016.
PHOTO: Vadim Ghirda/AP
In September 2015, an excavator dumps life vests that were previously used by migrants on the Greek island of Lesbos.
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In September 2015, an excavator dumps life vests that were previously used by migrants on the Greek island of Lesbos.
PHOTO: Petros Giannakouris/AP
The Turkish coast guard helps refugees near Aydin, Turkey, after their boat toppled en route to Greece in January 2016.
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The Turkish coast guard helps refugees near Aydin, Turkey, after their boat toppled en route to Greece in January 2016.
PHOTO: Emin Menguarslan/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
A woman sits with children around a fire at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni in March 2016.
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A woman sits with children around a fire at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni in March 2016.
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A column of migrants moves along a path between farm fields in Rigonce, Slovenia, in October 2015.
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A column of migrants moves along a path between farm fields in Rigonce, Slovenia, in October 2015.
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A ship crowded with migrants flips onto its side in May 2016 as an Italian navy ship approaches off the coach of Libya. Passengers had rushed to the port side, a shift in weight that proved too much. Five people died and more than 500 were rescued.
PHOTO: Italian navy via AP Photo
Refugees break through a barbed-wire fence on the Greece-Macedonia border in February 2016, as tensions boiled over regarding new travel restrictions into Europe.
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Refugees break through a barbed-wire fence on the Greece-Macedonia border in February 2016, as tensions boiled over regarding new travel restrictions into Europe.
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Policemen try to disperse hundreds of migrants by spraying them with fire extinguishers during a registration procedure in Kos, Greece, in August 2015.
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A member of the humanitarian organization Sea-Watch holds a migrant baby who drowned following the capsizing of a boat off Libya in May 2016.
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A member of the humanitarian organization Sea-Watch holds a migrant baby who drowned following the capsizing of a boat off Libya in May 2016.
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A migrant in Gevgelija, Macedonia, tries to sneak onto a train bound for Serbia in August 2015.
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A migrant in Gevgelija, Macedonia, tries to sneak onto a train bound for Serbia in August 2015.
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Migrants, most of them from Eritrea, jump into the Mediterranean from a crowded wooden boat during a rescue operation about 13 miles north of Sabratha, Libya, in August 2016.
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Migrants, most of them from Eritrea, jump into the Mediterranean from a crowded wooden boat during a rescue operation about 13 miles north of Sabratha, Libya, in August 2016.
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Refugees rescued off the Libyan coast get their first sight of Sardinia as they sail in the Mediterranean Sea toward Cagliari, Italy, in September 2015.
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Local residents and rescue workers help migrants from the sea after a boat carrying them sank off the island of Rhodes, Greece, in April 2015.
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Local residents and rescue workers help migrants from the sea after a boat carrying them sank off the island of Rhodes, Greece, in April 2015.
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Investigators in Burgenland, Austria, inspect an abandoned truck that contained the bodies of refugees who died of suffocation in August 2015. The 71 victims -- most likely fleeing war-ravaged Syria -- were 60 men, eight women and three children.
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Investigators in Burgenland, Austria, inspect an abandoned truck that contained the bodies of refugees who died of suffocation in August 2015. The 71 victims -- most likely fleeing war-ravaged Syria -- were 60 men, eight women and three children.
PHOTO: Rex Features via AP
Syrian refugees sleep on the floor of a train car taking them from Macedonia to the Serbian border in August 2015. How to help the ongoing migrant crisis
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Syrian refugees sleep on the floor of a train car taking them from Macedonia to the Serbian border in August 2015. How to help the ongoing migrant crisis
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“The high loss of life comes despite a large overall fall this year in the number of people seeking to cross the Mediterranean to Europe.”

He said at least 1.02 million made the crossing in 2015, while 327,800 have so far this year.

“From one death for every 269 arrivals last year, in 2016 the likelihood of dying has spiraled to one in 88,” Spindler said.

On what’s known as the Central Mediterranean route between Libya and Italy, “the likelihood of dying is even higher, at one death for every 47 arrivals,” he said.

Libya is a popular jumping-off point for migrants seeking to reach Europe from North Africa. Smuggling networks are well established there, and the lack of an effective central government makes the job of traffickers easier.

But the crossing can be treacherous, with too many migrants – some fleeing war or persecution, others seeking a better life – crammed into what are often barely seaworthy boats.

’These crossings are nothing but fatal’

The UN refugee agency considers the route “extremely dangerous due to the open sea, strong currents and grim weather,” UN Radio said.

This year, about half those attempting the journey have taken the Central Mediterranean route, Spindler said.

He also attributed the higher death toll to people smugglers “using lower-quality vessels – flimsy inflatable rafts that often do not last the journey.”

Bad weather during the crossings may also have played a role, and he said smugglers have changed tactics so “there have been mass embarkations of thousands of people at a time,” making rescuers’ work more difficult.

An agreement in March between the European Union and Turkey resulted in a big reduction in the numbers setting off from Turkey for Greece, a much shorter and less treacherous route, Spindler told UN Radio.

CNN’s Vasco Cotovio contributed to this report.