Deadliest start to a year in more than a decade, according to the International Organization for Migration
A least 606 people trying to reach Europe in search of refugee have been reported dead or missing in the Mediterranean since the beginning of 2026, marking the “deadliest start to a year” in more than a decade, the UN’s migration agency said on Monday.
The figure includes at least 30 people who are feared dead or missing after their boat capsized in severe weather off the coast of Greece on Saturday. Authorities rescued 20 people, including four minors, and recovered the bodies of three men and one woman, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said.
The boat had left Tobruk, Libya, on 19 February and overturned about 20 nautical miles (37km) south of Kali Limenes, Crete.
“This marks the deadliest start to a year in the Mediterranean since IOM began recording such data in 2014,” the agency said, adding that it was “calling for increased search and rescue efforts in the central Mediterranean to save lives and ensure safe disembarkation, as well as for stronger regional cooperation”.
