Migrants who risk their lives to cross the Mediterranean to Europe on flimsy boats often piloted by people-smugglers, are at greater risk of dying now than for years, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Friday.

Latest data visualisation figures from UNHCR, shows that there were 3,231 dead or missing at sea last year, a sharp rise from 2020.

Last year’s shipwreck death toll is on a par with 2014, even though almost twice as many people crossed the sea to Europe eight years ago, when the exodus of those fleeing war in Syria, war was at its height.

The situation is a “widespread, longstanding and largely overlooked tragedy”, said UNHCR.

The UN agency noted that although some of those crossing the Mediterranean want a better life and better jobs, many are fleeing conflict, violence or persecution.

Out of Africa

The most common countries of origin for people moving along Mediterranean routes include those affected by years of conflict and displacement, particularly in the East and Horn of Africa regions.

UNHCR Spokesperson Shabia Mantoo, told journalists in Geneva that in addition to the rising death toll at sea, the agency is concerned that “deaths and abuses are also widespread along land routes, most commonly in and through the countries of origin and transit, including Eritrea, Somalia, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Libya – where the overwhelming majority of risks and incidents are reported.”

The No End in Sight visualization, shows that in 2014, more than 200,000 refugees and migrants moved from East and West Africa, to North Africa, an onwards to Europe, peaking in 2015, when more than a million reaches European countries.