Rise in migrants crossing Med to Italy in January

ROME – The number of migrants disembarking in Italy from across the Mediterranean almost doubled in Jan 2018, from the previous month, to 4,800 landings, though across Europe as a whole numbers are falling, according to the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union (Frontex).

 In brief report, detailed in Il Messaggero, Frontex noted that the number of attempted crossings had fallen in Dec 2017 “when the activities of traffickers had been hit by battles near to the areas of departure and by bad weather.”

 According to their preliminary data, Frontex concluded that the largest group of migrants into Italy came from Eritrea, followed by those from Pakistan and Tunisia. The EU agency also highlighted that the last few months had seen a rise in the number of Libyans attempting the crossing.

 Frontex detailed that across Europe’s four main routes, a total of 8,300 migrants were intercepted, a fall of seven percent on the same period in the previous year.   

 Spain, who had recently seen a spike in the number of illegal entries into the country, cut arrivals by a third. Meanwhile in the Eastern Mediterranean, Greece saw landings fall by 43 percent compared with Dec 2017. Spain’s migrants are mostly drawn from Guinea, Morocco, Ivory Coast and Mali, whereas those passing through Greece are largely from war-torn Syria and Iraq.

 Only around 300 migrants attempted to go through Europe’s fourth most popular route, the Eastern Balkans, where collaboration between border authorities is more concerted.

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