With at least 100 feared dead after two shipwrecks in the Strait of Sicily, the number of people who have died in the Mediterranean Sea this year has reached 5,000. This is the highest ever annual death toll.
Image: Reuters/A. Konstantinidis
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Two shipwrecks in the Strait of Sicily on Thursday night brought the estimated death toll in the Mediterranean Sea to a record 5,000 people in 2016, the United Nations said on Friday.
"This is the worst annual death toll ever seen," said UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) spokesman William Spindler.
The reasons for the increase in deaths include inadequate boats and harsh weather conditions.
Overcrowded rubber dinghies
At least 100 passengers are thought to have died in the two incidents on Thursday according to Flavio Di Giacomo, an International Organization for Migration spokesperson.
Survivors who were brought to the Sicilian city of Trapani by the Italian coastguard said the rubber dinghies they were traveling on capsized while trying to cross from Libya to Italy. Each boat was said to be carrying around 120 people.
Di Giacomo said that many of the survivors he had spoken to did not originally want to come to Europe.
"For many of them the destination country was Libya," he said. "But what they found there was abuse and violence. As a consequence, they decided to try the sea crossing, putting their lives in the hands of unscrupulous smugglers who forced them to embark on vessels unfit to sail."
Humanitarian emergency "not over"
"This tragedy reminds us that the humanitarian emergency involving thousands of people dying while trying to flee Libya is not over,” said Di Giacomo. "In 2016 the number of arrivals by sea in Italy has kept growing, but the number of migrants dying is up dramatically."
Some 3,777 people are believed to have drowned at sea while trying to reach Europe in all of 2015, according to the IOM.
The UNHCR has appealed to national governments to open up more legal pathways for admitting migrants.
How did Europe's refugee crisis start?
From escalating violence in the Middle East and Africa to incoherent asylum policy at home - DW looks at how the EU has found itself in the midst of a refugee crisis.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Fleeing war and poverty
In late 2014, with the war in Syria approaching its fourth year and Islamic State making gains in the north of the country, the exodus of Syrians intensified. At the same time, others were fleeing violence and poverty in countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Somalia, Niger and Kosovo.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Seeking refuge over the border
Vast numbers of Syrian refugees had been gathering in border-town camps in neighboring Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan since 2011. By 2015, with the camps full to bursting and residents often unable to find work or educate their children, more and more people decided to seek asylum further afield.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
A long journey on foot
In 2015 an estimated 1.5 million people made their way on foot from Greece towards western Europe via the "Balkan route". The Schengen Agreement, which allows passport-free travel within much of the EU, was called into question as refugees headed towards the wealthier European nations.
Image: Getty Images/M. Cardy
Desperate sea crossings
Tens of thousands of refugees were also attempting the perilous journey across the Mediterranean on overcrowded boats. In April 2015, 800 people of various nationalities drowned when a boat traveling from Libya capsized off the Italian coast. This was to be just one of many similar tragedies - by the end of the year, nearly 4,000 refugees were reported to have died attempting the crossing.
Image: Reuters/D. Zammit Lupi
Pressure on the borders
Countries along the EU's external border struggled to cope with the sheer number of arrivals. Fences were erected in Hungary, Slovenia, Macedonia and Austria. Asylum laws were tightened and several Schengen area countries introduced temporary border controls.
Image: picture-alliance/epa/B. Mohai
Closing the open door
Critics of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's "open-door" refugee policy claimed it had made the situation worse by encouraging more people to embark on the dangerous journey to Europe. By September 2016, Germany had also introduced temporary checks on its border with Austria.
Image: Reuters/F. Bensch
Striking a deal with Turkey
In early 2016, the EU and Turkey signed an agreement under which refugees arriving in Greece could be sent back to Turkey. The deal has been criticized by human rights groups and came under new strain following a vote by the European Parliament in November to freeze talks on Turkey's potential accession to the EU.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/A. Altan
No end in sight
With anti-immigration sentiment in Europe growing, governments are still struggling to reach a consensus on how to handle the continuing refugee crisis. Attempts to introduce quotas for the distribution of refugees among EU member states have largely failed. Conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere show no signs coming to an end, and the death toll from refugee sea crossings is on the rise.
