IOM: Mediterranean migrant arrivals reach 358,403

International Organisation for Migration, IOM, has reported that 358,403 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea in 2016 through 21 December, arriving mostly in Greece and Italy.

"Deaths in the Mediterranean this year reached 4,913," according to the organisation’s Missing Migrants Project, with 13 new fatalities reported since its last report on December 20.

According to IOM report, "Six of those deaths occurred on the route between Turkey and Greece late Tuesday, with another seven corpses reportedly discovered during a high seas rescue on the Libya-Italy route early Thursday."

"The 4,913 deaths in the Mediterranean through December 21 indicate a 2016 average daily death toll of nearly 14 men, women and children per day," the report added.