By: Seringe ST Touray
This summer, the United Nations reported that the number of migrants who perished or went missing while attempting to cross the Mediterranean was three times higher than the corresponding period last year.
Between June and August, a minimum of 990 individuals lost their lives or disappeared along the perilous central Mediterranean route connecting northern Africa to Europe. This starkly contrasts with the 334 fatalities recorded during the same months in 2022, as revealed by the UN agency, UNICEF.
Although specific figures for children’s fatalities during these crossings were not provided, UNICEF highlighted that 11,600 unaccompanied minors were part of the migrants attempting to reach Italy on makeshift vessels from January to September. This represented a 60 percent increase compared to the initial nine months of 2022.
