The number of dead, missing migrants in the Mediterranean sea tripled this summer compared to the same period last year, the United Nations confirmed Friday.
Between June and August, at least 990 people died or went missing in the dangerous central Mediterranean route between northern Africa and Europe, compared to 334 deaths over the same months in 2022, the U.N.'s children's agency UNICEF said.
The agency gave no separate number for children dying during the crossings, but said that 11,600 unaccompanied minors had been among the migrants trying to get to Italy on makeshift vessels between January and September, up 60% from the first nine months of 2022.
"The Mediterranean has become a cemetery for children and their future," UNICEF coordinator, Regina De Dominicis, said.
"The tragic toll of children dying in search of asylum and security in Europe is the result of political choices and a defective migration system," she said.
Earlier Thursday, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees reported 2,500 migrants died or went missing in the Mediterranean between Jan. 1 and Sept. 24, 50% more than in the same period last year.
"By Sept. 24, over 2,500 people were accounted as dead or missing in 2023 alone," Ruven Menikdiwela, director of the UNHCR New York office, told the Security Council.
That number marked a large increase over the 1,680 dead or missing migrants in the same period in 2022.
"Lives are also lost on land, away from public attention," she added.
The land journey from sub-Saharan African countries, where many of the migrants hail from, to departure points on the Tunisian and Libyan coasts "remains one of the world's most dangerous," Menikdiwela said.
The migrants and refugees "risk death and gross human rights violations at every step," said Menikdiwela.
In total, some 186,000 people arrived by sea in southern Europe from January to Sept. 24, landing in Italy, Greece, Spain, Cyprus and Malta.
The majority, over 130,000 people, arrived in Italy, marking an increase of 83% compared to the same period in 2022.
As for departure points, between January and August of this year it is estimated that more than 102,000 refugees and migrants tried to cross the Mediterranean from Tunisia and 45,000 from Libya.
An estimated 31,000 people were rescued at sea or intercepted and disembarked in Tunisia, and 10,600 in Libya, Menikdiwela said.
