Migrant arrivals in Europe top 73,000, deaths 1,808 this year

Geneva, June 13 (IANS/AKI): At total of 73,189 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea this year as of June 11, with almost 85 per cent arriving in Italy, the United Nations migration agency said on Tuesday. Arrivals to Italy were 61,903 till June 11, with 1,717 deaths, compared with 52,775 arrivals and 2,437 deaths over the same period last year, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said. This year’s figures exclude some 3,000 migrants and refugees rescued in the Mediterranean since last Friday, not all of whom have yet arrived in Italian ports, the IOM said. Nigerians (9,286 men, women and children) comprised the number one nationality - as they had a year ago. Bangladeshis (7,106) were in second place but registered a massive surge in arrivals from just 20 over the same period last year, the IOM data showed. Guinea (5,960), Cote d’Ivoire (5,657), the Gambia (4,011), Senegal (3,935), Morocco (3,327), Mali (3,150), Eritrea (2,344) and Sudan (2,327) were the next eight biggest groups by nationality, IOM said. Some 8,000 Bangladeshis made the journey to Italy from Africa in 2016 while 7,000 had already arrived in the first five months of this year, IOM noted. Christians borrowing hijabs to flee IS-held Philippines town (05:50) London, June 14 (IANS) Christians in a Philippines town are disguising themselves by borrowing hijabs to escape the Islamic State (IS) terrorists group that has been holding 1,500 people hostage. More than three weeks after the terrorist group stormed the southern Filipino town of Marawi, starving locals are said to have resorted to extreme measures including eating their blankets to stay alive, Dailymail reported on Tuesday. Five police officers and five Christian civilians dashed across the town’s commercial district this morning, ducking for cover from a sniper, to reach a government-controlled area on the Agus River western bank, the report said. “We ran the last part. We could see the bridge ahead of us. We had to take cover several times when we saw a sniper,” an officer was quoted as saying. Almost the entire population of more than 200,000 fled after May 23, when fighters from local groups allied to IS rampaged through the Muslim-majority town, killing and kidnapping Christians. The military estimates 300 to 600 civilians are still trapped or being held as human shields in areas occupied by the terrorists.