Over 150,000 refugees entered Europe by Mediterranean route this year - IOM

Some 150,982 refugees have entered Europe by the Mediterranean route so far in 2017 compared with 335,158 refugee arrivals in Europe through the same period last year, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Friday. It said in Geneva that 4,866 refugees died this year, or 16 people a day, Anadolu reported. “Deaths in the Mediterranean Sea continue to account for a majority of the world’s migrant fatalities - now up to 2,839 for the year, or nearly 60 percent of the 2017 total,” the IOM said. Cyprus has become a new pathway to continental Europe while the number of refugees entering other parts of Europe by sea decreased.