Thousands missing at sea as use of deadliest route rises

The number of people taking the world's deadliest migratory route-across the central Mediterranean - to reach the EU has more than doubled, driving irregular crossings at the bloc's external borders to their highest level in seven years.

- Jon Henley

As migration returns to the top of Europe's political agenda, Europe's border and coast guard agency said last Friday that irregular arrivals had risen by 13% between January and July to 176,100, the highest number for the period since 2016.

Frontex said the increase was entirely driven by a 115% rise in the number of people using the "central Mediterranean" route, which is now the main migratory route into the EU and accounts for more than half of all EU border detections.

Many, however, do not make it. According to data from the UN's International Organization for Migration, so far in 2023 more than 2,090 people have gone missing in the Mediterranean, mostly on the central route.

The route, from Libya or Tunisia northward to Greece or Italy, can take several days, is often made in unseaworthy, dangerously overloaded boats, and was used successfully by more than 89,000 people in the first seven months of 2023, Frontex said.