Number of migrants crossing the Med to reach Italian shores DOUBLES in just a month
October recorded highest monthly intake of migrants with Nigerians and Eritreans accounting for the largest number
NEARLY 27,500 migrants reached Italy after crossing the Med in October – the highest total ever recorded for one month.
The EU’s border agency yesterday claimed people smugglers “crammed even more” migrants into unseaworthy boats in a bid to beat the winter weather.
The October total was twice the number recorded in September with Nigerians and Eritreans accounting for the largest number of rescued migrants.
The staggering figures mean that 159,500 have reached the Italian coast so far this year, mainly from Libya – up 13 per cent on the same period for 2015.
It comes as the numbers attempting to cross the Aegean continue to fall after the EU’s controversial refugee deal with Turkey in March.
Just 3,100 reached Greece from Turkey in October.
Frontex exec director Fabrice Leggeri said the agency was working closely with Italy to increase the number of hotspots for registration, nationality screening and the “efficient return” of migrants who have no right to be in the EU.
He added there had been 127 deaths in the central Med last month – though it was likely “many more drowned”.