Mediterranean Sea

Human smugglers have started using speed boats for the illegal transportation of migrants trying to reach Europe, the governor of the western Turkish province Çanakkale told state-run Anadolu Agency on March 15.

"Human smugglers always change their tactics. In the face of this, we are also trying to develop our own tactics, pushing our limits," said Hamza Erkal.

Austria's Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz has called for stepping up border controls to shut off the Mediterranean route leading through Italy to central Europe following the closure of the Western Balkan route for migrants.

Greece finds itself in an even more precarious position on the refugee crisis. After the de facto sealing off of the western Balkan route, Austria has called for the closing of the Mediterranean sea route. A total of 9,000 refugees and immigrants on the islands of Greece ready to cross over into the mainland and continue their journey to the north of Europe.

Arrivals of migrants and refugees to Italy and Greece across the Mediterranean routes have exceeded 150,000 between January 1 and March 10, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has said.

Arrivals to the Greek islands continue with a daily average of some 2,000, the IOM said in its latest update on migrant inflow to Europe on Friday.

The flow of migrants and refugees to the Greek islands from Turkey continues despite efforts by NATO to discourage people smugglers by increasing naval deployment in the Aegean Sea, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has said.

The rapid piling up of migrants who are trapped on the northern borders of Greece could lead to a humanitarian catastrophe, according to UNHCR.

The UN refugee agency said that so far this year more 131,724 migrants have crossed the Mediterranean, more than in the first six months of 2015.

Four times more deaths in the Mediterranean in January 2016 and thirteen times more arrivals in Greece and Italy have been recorded compared to the same month of 2015, the latest data of the international Organisation for Migration (IOM) shows.

Fatalities among migrants and refugees in the Mediterranean in January topped 360 due to a particularly deadly final weekend of the month, when over 100 men, women in and children died in the waters off Greece, Turkey and Italy, the International Organization for Migrations said on Tuesday.

Germany's AIDA Cruises has adjusted its 2016 deployment in Europe, opting to pull the AIDAstella from the Eastern Mediterranean due to "ongoing security concerns" in Turkey.

A total of 55,528 migrants and refugees have crossed the Mediterranean into Europe during the first 28 days of the year, according to estimates of the International Organization for Migration (IOM).