The first quarter of this year saw the highest number of migrant victims in the Mediterranean since 2017, the Director-General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Antonio Vitorino said.
In a statement today, Vitorino said January-March 2023 was the deadliest period since 2017 for migrants crossing the central Mediterranean, with 441 people dying while trying to reach Europe, AFP reported.
“The ongoing humanitarian crisis in the Central Mediterranean is intolerable. With more than 20,000 deaths recorded on this route since 2014, I fear that these deaths have become normalized,” Vitorino said.
