1,530 migrants, refugees died crossing Mediterranean so far 2017

The United Nations Migration Agency (International Organization for Migration, IOM) said Friday that 1,530 migrants and refugees died crossing the Mediterranean in 2017.

The IOM reports that 60,521 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea this year, with over 80 percent arriving in Italy and the remainder divided between Greece, Cyprus and Spain, said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, at a daily news briefing.

"This number does not include some 6,000 people who have been rescued over the past 72 hours," said Dujarric.

In terms of fatalities, the 1,530 migrants and refugees who died this year crossing the Mediterranean, is about the same figure recorded in the corresponding period in 2016, he said.

(CGTN)