The EU border agency Frontex announced an unprecedented increase in the flow of migrants heading to Europe via the Mediterranean Sea.
This is reported by AFP.
The Central Mediterranean route accounts for more than half of the 80,700 known migrant arrivals to the EU in total via all routes.
The head of the agency, Hans Leytens, said that 42,200 people arrived in the European Union via this route in January-April, which is 300% more compared to the same period in 2022, and for the route through Tunisia - by 1,100%.
Frontex claims that these are the highest figures for all time since 2009, when they began to keep statistics.
This is attributed to the fact that the people who have organized a business to facilitate such illegal shipments have established a cheap, artisanal production of light boats that can be made right on the seashore in less than a day, while at the same time reducing the cost of a place on board for migrants. In addition, there are several groups of shipping organizers that compete with each other.
Meanwhile, information was received from German law enforcement agencies that one of the main illegal routes to the country was via Russia and Belarus.
