At least 606 migrants have died or gone missing while attempting to cross the Mediterranean since the beginning of 2026, the U.N.’s International Organization for Migration said Monday.
"This marks the deadliest start to a year in the Mediterranean since IOM began recording such data in 2014," the IOM said.
A spokesperson for the organization added that at least 30 people were missing after a vessel capsized off Crete on Saturday as they headed for Greece in bad weather.
Greek authorities said four bodies, three men and a woman, had been recovered with four patrol boats still engaged in a search for possible survivors.
Four of the mainly Sudanese and Egyptian migrant passengers were minors.
