(MENAFN) A total of 27,500 migrants and refugees landed on Italian shores in October, the highest figure ever recorded in the central Mediterranean and more than twice as many as in September, European border agency Frontex said on Wednesday.
In detail, people smugglers used good weather to "cram even more migrants onto unseaworthy boats before the winter weather sets in," the agency said.
At least 127 people are known to have drowned making the crossing to the Italian islands of Sicily and Lampedusa in October alone, the Frontex report said, noting that the actual figure was likely far higher.
This year, over 159,000 people have made the perilous trip from Libya to Italy, a 13 per cent increase from last year.
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