International Organization for Migration

The bodies of at least 20 people have been pulled from the sea off the coast of Melilla, a small Spanish territory bordering Morocco, reported BBC. 

Moroccan rescue services recovered the corpses after the crew of a passenger ship spotted them in the water.

The dead are believed to be migrants from sub-Saharan Africa.

Slightly fewer than half as many migrants reached Europe by sea in 2017 than 2016, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Friday, with curbs finally cutting traffic on the deadly route from Libya to Italy. 

Since the beginning of the migrant crisis in 2015, more than a million people have passed through Serbia. The Balkan route is now closed, but refugees are still arriving.

There are currently 4,100 migrants in five permanent asylum centers and in 13 reception centers in Serbia, while these facilities can provide for 6,000 people.

More than 33,000 migrants have died at sea trying to reach European shores this century, making the Mediterranean "by far the world's deadliest border", the United Nations migration agency said on Friday.

A group of 234 refugees departed from Athens to Lyon, France, on Wednesday under the European Union's relocation program which is co-implemented by the Greek office of the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

The group included 190 individuals from Syria, 27 from Iraq, and 11 from the Palestinian authority.

Labor, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs Minister Zoran Djordjevic met Tuesday with representatives of the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Djordjevic spoke with Regional Coordinator Peter Van Der Auweraert and Head of IOM's Office in Serbia Lidija Markovic, the Serbian government announced on its website.

At the height of Europe's recent migration crisis, more than 7,000 people landed every day at the Greek islands that face Turkey. Orange life vests covered the beaches of northern Lesvos while multiplying numbers of new arrivals slept in fields and at the island's main port.

That was the fall of 2015.

A total of 1,645 undocumented immigrants were returned to their countries of origin last month, according to figures provided by the Greek Police Monday.

The number of refugees and migrants who arrived in Europe since the beginning of the year has reached 120 018 people, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said, quoted by BGNES.

On the way to the "Promised Land," 2361 people died, said the spokeswoman of IOM  Jolie Milman at a briefing at the headquarters of the organization in Geneva.

More than 110,000 migrants and refugees have arrived in Europe through the Mediterranean since the beginning of the year, the International Organization for Migration announced. Reported by Mediapool.