11 migrant children drown every week trying to cross to Europe

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said today, Friday, that 11 children die every week while trying Crossing the Mediterranean Trying to immigrate to Europe.

UNICEF said in a statement published on its website that it is estimated that at least 289 children have gone missing or died since the beginning of this year while trying to cross the perilous migration route in the central Mediterranean from North Africa to Europe.

The statement added that this is equivalent to the death or loss of 11 children every week as they search for safety, peace and better opportunities.

UNICEF said that, according to its estimates, since 2018, “about 1,500 children have died or gone missing while trying to cross the Mediterranean.”

The international organization stated that many cases of boat sinking in the transit route in the Mediterranean do not result in survivors and are not recorded, which makes it practically impossible to verify the true number of child victims, whose number is likely to be much higher.

According to the organization’s estimates, 11,600 children, an average of 428 per week, have arrived on the shores of Italy from North Africa since January 2023. The figure represents an increase of two times the number recorded in the same period in 2022, despite the grave risks to which children are exposed.

The organization indicated that the majority of children leave Africa from Libya and Tunisia after embarking on already dangerous journeys across the continent and the Middle East.