A total of 4,027 refugees and migrants have died in the Mediterranean in the first seven months of this year, a 35 percent increase compared with the same period of 2015, the International Organization for Migration, or IOM, reported on Tuesday.

 

Drowning was the main cause of death though fatalities sometimes resulted from violence among people on the crowded boats trying to reach the European shores, as the Mediterranean has become the world’s deadliest route.

 

“More than three quarters of migrant deaths recorded thus far in 2016 have occurred in the Mediterranean,” said Joel Millman, IOM spokesman.

 

Millman reported that 120 bodies were discovered during the last 10 days on the Libyan coasts.

 

IOM reported that 257,186 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea during this period of 2016. EFE

 

Italy Continues Rescue Efforts

 

Italy’s coast guard and navy said they rescued upwards of 4,000 migrants from Mediterranean waters on Friday.

 

Some 3,400 travelers aboard 28 rafts and six boats were rescued in operations coordinated by the coast guard.

 

The Italian coast guard was assisted by a British vessel deployed as part of the European Union’s Eunavfor Med, an Irish-flagged ship and craft operated by the NGOs MOAS, SOS Mediterranee, Jugend Rettet, Sea Watch and Sea Eye.

 

More than 600 other migrants were rescued in the Sicilian Channel in an effort led by the Italian navy ships Margottini, Grecale and Bettica.

 

Also Friday, the 137 migrants rescued on Thursday by coast guard units were taken to the port of Lampedusa. EFE

 

Rome, Jul 29 (EFE).