Mediterranean Sea

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).

Forty-six migrants or refugees have been reported dead or missing in the Mediterranean in the first six days of 2016, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has reported.

The number of migrants and refugees who have arrived in Europe in 2015 surpassed one million.

Last week, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) had estimated that their number will certainly surpass one million by the end of the year and this was confirmed on Monday.

Turkish coast guards rescued 69 Afghan refugees off the coast of western Izmir province Dec. 21, local official sources said.

The refugees were rescued while they were trying to go to the Greek island of Chios.

Meanwhile, the bodies of two people, including a three-and-a-half year old child and a 17-year-old girl, were found off the coast of Çe?me in ?zmir province.

A total of 990,671 migrants and refugees have entered Europe in 2015 from Africa and the Middle East by a combination of irregular land and sea routes, the International organization for Migration (IOM) said on Friday.

The number of migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea to Europe fell by more than one-third last month due to poor weather and a Turkish crackdown on traffickers, the U.N. said Dec. 1.

The municipality of Alonissos in cooperation with the Mediterranean SOS Network and MOm (Hellenic Society for the Study and Protection of the Monk Seal)  launced an ambitious program today, entitled Alonissos  without plastic bags’, and became the first island to abolish the use of plastic bags.

A pipeline project, opened to carry fresh water to Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) from the Turkish province of Mersin, is allegedly experiencing a water stoppage due to the deepening of an existing crisis over which authority will manage the pipeline. 

The Corinthian Gulf is to receive an early warning device system for tsunamis that has been developed by scientists of the European Commission’s Joint Research Center. The project is a collaboration between teh European Commission’s Directorate-General for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection and the UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC).

A European study in which Greece participated found more than 755 alien species that have invaded the Mediterranean waters of the European continent. The non-indigenous species are a huge problem for the Mediterranean as well as for European rivers and lakes, say experts.