More Migrants And Refugees Died This Year Than Ever Before | HuffPost The WorldPost

The journey across land and sea in search of a better life has never been deadlier . This year, a record number of migrants and refugees died on the journey to Europe, even though the total number of people who make these crossings has gone way down.

More than 5,000 lives were lost his year in the Mediterranean Sea as of Dec. 23, according to the International Organization for Migration and the U.N. Refugee Agency. Thats up from 3,771 in 2015, when more than 1 million migrants and refugees crossed into Europe by sea.

But only 351,080 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea in 2016, compared to 883,393 in 2015, the IOM added.

The first half of 2016 saw a 37 percent increase in the number of recorded deaths and disappearances across the Mediterranean Sea, compared to the same period in 2015, an IOM study said.

The 2016 figures boil down to one death for every 88 arrivals , said William Spindler, UNHCR spokesman.

Warning: The tweet below contains graphic imagery that may be upsetting to some readers.

This haunting image will stay with us forever. Nobody should die like this. #SAFEPASSAGE pic.twitter.com/XluowRLlL4

MSF Sea (@MSF_Sea) October 26, 2016","type":"rich","meta":{"author":"MSF Sea","author_url":"https://twitter.com/MSF_Sea","cache_age":86400,"description":"This haunting image will stay with us forever. 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This haunting image will stay with us forever. Nobody should die like this. #SAFEPASSAGE pic.twitter.com/XluowRLlL4
MSF Sea (@MSF_Sea) October 26, 2016

2016 & Smuggling

The central Mediterranean the stretch of sea between Libya and Italy was 2016s focal point. While its been a gateway into Europe for tens of thousands of migrants over the years, the dangerous stretch of sea has grown more deadly due to the increasingly unsafe methods smugglers use to transport people.

Half of all migrants who crossed into Europe took the central Med route, Spindler said. But between Libya and Italy the likelihood of dying is even higher, at one death for every 47 arrivals, he said.

International attention shifted from the eastern Mediterranean, the area that experienced the vast majority of crossings in 2015, when the European Union and Turkey struck a deal in March that cut off most illegal sea travel between Turkey and Greece. Turkey agreed to seal off its borders, restricting the movements of migrants and refugees, in exchange for more E.U. funding.

Arrivals to Greece fell by 98 percent as a result, the IOM said, and no deaths were recorded on this route in May and June. An average of 69 people are currently rescued daily in the Mediterranean UNHCR senior public information officer Chris Boian told The Huffington Post.

Two key factors play into the high death rate in the central Mediterranean compared to other routes: Smugglers carry people on unsafe crafts that are prone to capsizing and the journey is longer, which makes it more difficult for search and rescue boats to locate and assist sinking vessels.

Human smugglers are using rafts and crafts that are not able to withstand [the weight of so many people], Boian said. Theyre loading those boats up way beyond capacity.