BASEL: The International Organisation for Migration has said that more than 60,000 migrants have reached the shores of Europe so far in 2017, a sizeable decrease compared to the same period last year.

The Geneva- based UN agency said on Friday that 60,521 migrants and refugees had entered Europe by sea with over 80 per cent of them landing in Italy. The remainder arrived in Greece, Cyprus or Spain.

That figure excludes an estimated 6,000 men, women and children who have been rescued since Tuesday.

The organisation has also recorded at least 1,530 deaths on the Mediterranean in 2017, the vast majority in the waters between Libya and Sicily. That figure is higher than the same period last year.

Between January-May 2016, the agency documented 193,333 migrants and refugees arriving at sea and 1,398 fatalities.

Published in Dawn, May 27th, 2017