The migrant disaster off Egypt this week adds to a relentless loss of life in the Mediterranean, where a single catastrophe killed some 800 people in April 2015. Following are despairing milestones in the ongoing migrant crisis.
More than 10,000 dead in 3 years
September 21, 2016
Rescuers had recovered at least 162 bodies from a September 21 shipwreck off Egypt. Survivors said up to 450 migrants had been on board heading for Italy when it capsized.
June 3, 2016
At least 320 people out of some 650 on board a boat die when it capsizes while trying to reach Crete from the coast of North Africa.
April 20, 2016
Around 500 people die in the south Mediterranean when their boat from Libya sinks, according to the witness accounts of some 40 people who escaped, quoted by the UNHCR.
August 5, 2015
More than 225 migrants from Africa, the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent drown when a fishing boat carrying more than 600 people capsizes off Libya. The tragedy happened when the migrants rushed to one side as an Irish ship drew near to pick them up. Rescuers managed to save 360 people.
April 19, 2015
Up to 800 people mainly from the Gambia, Senegal and Mali feared dead after their crammed fishing boat capsizes in Libyan waters. Just 28 people survive the worst Mediterranean disaster in decades.
April 12, 2015
Up to 400 migrants drown after their vessel capsizes off Libya, according to survivors who reach southern Italy.
February 11, 2015
More than 300 migrants from Africa drown after their overcrowded boats sail from Libya in atrocious weather. Twenty-nine rescued people die of exposure before the Italian coastguard can get them to hospital.
September 10, 2014
Up to 500 migrants drown off Malta after people smugglers ram their boat to force them onto a smaller vessel.
October 3, 2013
At least 366 die when a ship carrying 500 migrants from the Horn of Africa begins to sink and then catches fire off the Italian island of Lampedusa. Many people trapped in the hold die from asphyxiation. The tragedy alerts the world to the unfolding humanitarian crisis.
Source: AFP
