"More than 2,500 people have died or gone missing while trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe so far this year," states the UN refugee agency, as approximately 186,000 people have arrived in European countries during the same period.

Ruven Menikdiwela, director of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office in New York, conveyed to the UN Security Council on Thursday that of the 186,000 who had crossed the Mediterranean, "83 per cent – some 130,000 people – landed in Italy." Other countries where Mediterranean crossers arrived included Greece, Spain, Cyprus, and Malta.