Italy-Libya sea route deadliest in The Mediterranean in 2018

For the fifth straight year, at least 1,500 migrants have perished in the Mediterranean, with the route between Libya and Italy being the deadliest, claiming the lives of one in 19, the U.N. migration agency said on Friday.

Spain, which has overtaken Italy as the preferred destination, has registered nearly 21,000 migrants so far this year, almost more than in the whole of last year, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said.

In all, about 55,000 migrants have reached European shores so far this year, against more than double that number at this time last year, 111,753, it said.

Italy – whose new government has closed its ports to rescue vessels – has had about 18,130 migrants arriving by sea from Libya this year, with the rest going to Greece, Malta and Cyprus.

“Despite incredibly low numbers arriving to Italy, the per capita death or the rate of death per 1,000 people may be at its highest point since the emergency began,” IOM spokesman Joel Millman told a news briefing.

On Tuesday, the European Commission presented a proposal for “regional disembarkation platforms” that would likely be located outside the European Union to process migrants rescued at sea.

However, the plans remain vague and do not mention any potential host countries. EU diplomats say they could be set up in North Africa.