Europe-bound boat deaths 'down'
2008-01-08 11:14
Rome - Fewer boat people died trying to reach Europe last year than in 2006 - 1 861 compared with 2 088 - according to a tally published on Monday by the Italian association Fortress Europe.
While fewer deaths were recorded around Spain's Canary Islands and the Strait of Gibraltar, spikes were reported in the Sicilian Channel and the Aegean Sea, the advocacy group for boat people said.
The group, which kept tallies of arrivals and deaths according to press reports, said 551 people died in the Sicilian Channel last year compared with 302 in 2006, while the figures for the Aegean Sea were 257 and 73 respectively.
December 2007 was one of the deadliest months of the year with a toll of 243, the association said. It had tallied 11 750 deaths among people seeking to migrate illegally to Europe since 1988.