“I want to go to Europe because of the fighting in my hometown” said Tarsen, a migrant from Ghana, “so I tried to escape and come here and want to go to Europe to secure my life”. He was rescued along with more than 100 people by Libyan coast guard on Monday.
 
Some 1.153 migrants have been rescued from the stretch of water between Sicily and North Africa on Tuesday, the Italian coast guard reported.
 
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) says earlier this month, more than 100 people are believed to have died in four shipwrecks between Italy and Libya, becoming the preferred sea route for migrants to Europe at this point.
 
According to IOM data, 155.837 have arrived to Greece by sea (from Syria, Aghanistan, Irak, Pakistan and Iran), 32.486 to Italy (from Nigeria, Gambia, Somalia, Ivory Coast, Eritrea and other African countries) and 28 to Cyprus. In the first 15 days of May, 735 people arrived to Greece and 3.857 to Italy.
 
Since the beginning of 2016, 1.357 people have lost their lives travelling to Europe through the Mediterranean Sea.