IOM highlights increased risk of migrants dying in “invisible shipwrecks”

The International Organization for Migration has expressed concern about the heightened risk of migrants running into trouble in the Mediterranean and not being assisted or even recorded, due to the lack of search-and-rescue vessels patrolling the area.

In a statement, the director of IOM’s Global Migration Data and Analysis Center (GMDAC), Frank Laczko, said: “We are witnessing a consistent increase in the number of ships at sea that we are aware of, and the absence of state and NGO search-and-rescue operations makes it difficult to know everything that is happening at sea.” 

“The response to Covid-19 has had a decisive impact on our ability to collect precise data. The central Mediterranean route remains the most dangerous maritime migration route in the world, and, in the current context, the risk has grown for invisible shipwrecks far from the sight of the international community,” Laczko also said. 

TMP_ 19/05/2020

Photo credit: 668150035

Photo caption: Old rusty shipwreck with the words Ship to Europe, the concept for the refugee crisis in the Mediterranean sea