In late September, the daily arrivals were around 4,500, confirming the rise of the flow in recent days. According to the IOM, the number of arrivals of foreigners in Europe this year has already reached 580,238, more than 400,000 of which arrived through Greece, 136,000 through Italy and more than 3,000 through Spain. Almost 3,000 people died during the trips across the Mediterranean Sea, which has become the most dangerous route in the world.
The first group of 19 Eritreans departed today from Italy to Sweden, as part of a plan to distribute asylum applicants in the European Union (EU) countries. A spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees welcomed the action and expressed hopes that the program continued to relocate the undocumented people that are in Italy and Greece. “We believe that it will be a slow beginning, but it will speed up after the proceedings start,” said spokeswoman Melissa Fleming.
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