The International Organization for Migration (IOM), the UN Migration Agency, reported that 8,956 migrants and refugees have entered Europe by sea through 27 February, marking a 12% decrease from the 10,243 arriving the same period last year. Deaths on the Mediterranean Sea reached 224, which is one half the 439 deaths that took place the same period in 2018.
2019 is the fifth year of IOM’s attempt to systematically record deaths on migration routes globally through its Missing Migrants Project (MMP). Since 2014, the Project has recorded the deaths of 31,340 people, including 407 in 2019.
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Regarding the irregular migration route across the Mediterranean to Europe, on 21 February, a man was found dead on a small inflatable boat in Punta del Guadalmesi, off the coast of Cádiz, Spain. It is not known if other people were travelling with him.
In addition, on 22 February, the remains of two female migrants were found on the coast of Béni Bouifrour, Nador, Morocco. They are believed to have drowned, but no information has surfaced about a vessel they may have been on.
On 24 and 25 February, the Libyan Red Crescent recovered the remains of two people on the beach near Azzawya, Libya. No identification was available for these victims, and the circumstances of their deaths are unknown.
On 24 February as well, a group of Pakistani and Syrians travelling through Croatia tried to cross the Mreznica River. After failing to locate a bridge, members of the group tried swimming across, and two men were caught by the current. Others informed the authorities, who recovered the remains of the two men.
In 2018, 41 of 116 migrant deaths recorded by MMP in Europe died in the Western Balkans, more than recorded in any other year by MMP on this route. So far in 2019, at least four migrants have died in the area.
On the US-Mexico border, two men lost their lives, while trying to cross into California on 19 and 20 February. A young man drowned in the All-American Canal and another died shortly after crossing the border in Otay Mesa, San Diego County, when the car in which he was travelling crashed into a truck.
In Texas, two men drowned in the Río Bravo, near Eagle Pass. There have been 16 migrant deaths recorded along this border crossing so far in 2019, compared to 14 in the same period in 2018, 23 in 2017 and 6 in 2016.
