More than 200 migrants drown or freeze to death in first few weeks of 2017

With cold weather across Europe, more than 200 migrants have already died in the first few weeks of 2017, either drowning in their attempt to cross the Mediterranean or freezing to death in deadly winter conditions across Europe.

Since the beginning of the year more than 250 migrants have lost their lives attempting to reach Europe.

This is more than double for the same period in 2016. It is anticipated that the number of deaths will continue to rise as the cold weather continues.

Border police in Greece recently had to dig through deep snow to find the body of one man who died while crossing the River Evros near the Turkish border. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that migrants had also frozen to death while trying to cross by boat from North Africa to Italy.

Another 180 migrants recently drowned when their boat sank around 30 miles from the Libyan coast.

According to the UN, more than 3,000 asylum seekers, mostly from Syria, Afghanistan and Nigeria, have entered Europe so far this year. This compares to more than 73,000 in July 2016.

However, death rates have been rising as most of the migrants now prefer the Central Mediterranean route as their main route to reach Europe, after attempts to stop the shorter crossing over the Aegean Sea by detaining anyone arriving on Greek islands.

Thousands of migrants in Greece are still being held in temporary tent camps. Many others are stranded in other parts of Europe, sleeping in makeshift shelters or on the street. This includes migrants, including a number of children, stuck in Belgrade, Serbia, where temperatures recently plummeted to -20c.