UNICEF: Record Number of Refugees, Migrants Died in Mediterranean this Winter

iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — A record number of refugees and migrants have died in the Mediterranean this winter, UNICEF announced Friday.

“At least 1,354 migrants and refugees drowned in the period from November 2016 to the end of January 2017 — with the majority of deaths occurring on the dangerous Central Mediterranean sea route between Libya and Italy where 1,191 people are reported to have perished,” UNICEF said in a news release.

“This is almost 13 times the number of fatalities reported for this route over the same period in 2015 to 2016,” the organization added.

An estimated 190 of the migrants and refugees who died this winter were children, according to UNICEF.

“The growing number of children lost at sea underscores the acute danger of the journey from North Africa to Italy, as well as the pressing need for governments on both sides of the Mediterranean to do more to keep them safe,” said UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Justin Forsyth in the news release.

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