Over 3,000 Europe-bound migrants lost at sea in 2021: UN

More than 3,000 people died or went missing in the Mediterranean and Atlantic while trying to reach Europe last year — double the toll from 2020, the United Nations said Friday.

A fresh report from the UN refugee agency demanded urgent action to combat surging deaths among refugees, asylum seekers and other migrants trying to reach Europe.

Last year, a total of 3,077 people were lost while trying to cross the Mediterranean and Atlantic routes to the continent, the report showed, up from 1,544 in 2020.

“Alarmingly, since the beginning of the year, an additional 478 people have also died or gone missing at sea,” UNHCR spokeswoman Shabia Mantoo told reporters in Geneva.

The report showed that for 2021, 1,924 people were reported dead or missing on the Central and Western Mediterranean routes, while another 1,153 perished on the North African maritime route to the Canary Islands.