The number of migrant deaths in the Central Mediterranean in the first three months of 2023 reached their highest point in six years, according to a new report Wednesday from the United Nations International Organization for Migration (IOM). It's the highest fatality count for a three-month period since the first quarter of 2017, when 742 deaths were recorded, according to IOM numbers. "The persisting humanitarian crisis in the Central Mediterranean is intolerable," said IOM Director General António Vitorino in a statement. "With more than 20,000 deaths recorded on this route since 2014, I fear that these deaths have been normalized." The IOM noted in its report that the number of recorded deaths was "likely an undercount of the true number of lives lost in the Central Mediterranean."

Source: The North Africa Journal April 13, 2023 01:38 UTC