More than 1,500 people died trying to reach Europe in 2018: UN

More than 1,500 people have died so far in 2018 trying to reach Europe by crossing the Mediterranean, the UN International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has said, adding that this is the fifth consecutive year that the grim benchmark has been reached.

The vast majority of the 1,504 deaths were drownings that occurred as people tried to cross from Libya to Italy (1,111), according to the data collected for the Missing Migrants Project.

This was followed by 304 deaths on the route to Spain and 89 on the way to Greece.

In a statement on Friday, the IOM said 304 fatalities were recorded between January and July 25, "far outpacing the 124 recorded in the equivalent period of 2017 - and the 224 recorded as drowned or missing during all of last year".

The number of people who have arrived in Europe this year is 55,001, a decrease of 50 percent compared with the same period last year.

However, on a per capita basis, 2018 is one of the deadliest years yet because the number of people trying to reach Europe is significantly lower.

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