AlHijjah 15, 1436, September 29, 2015, SPA -- Some 522,000 migrants have made the dangerous crossing across the Mediterranean so far this year, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported Tuesday in Geneva. More than 388,000 of them went by boat from Turkey to Greece, while 131,000 ventured from Northern Africa to Italy. Smaller numbers have arrived in Spain and Malta. "Even if arrivals are still increasing, it is necessary to emphasize that this in not an emergency in terms of numbers," IOM director general William Lacy Swing said in New York, pointing to the 4 million Syrian refugees being hosted by Middle Eastern countries and Turkey. Europe should create legal channels for migrants so that they do not have to turn to people smugglers and their boats, he said. Nearly 2,900 people have died this year trying to cross the Mediterranean, according to IOM. An estimated 1,151 migrants were pulled from boats off the coast of Libya on Monday in 11 rescue operations by Italian authorities, according to Ansa news agency. On Monday, the European Council announced the second phase of the EU operation to tackle the surging numbers of migrants crossing the Mediterranean, and renamed it Operation Sophia.
