(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) BRUSSELS, Sept 14 (KUNA) -- In the first eight months of 2018, number of illegal border crossings into the European Union via the top four migratory routes fell 40 per cent from a year ago to about 86.500.
Frontex, EU's border and coast guard agency said in a press release Friday that the drop was mainly because of lower migratory pressure on the Central Mediterranean route.
In August, some 12,500 illegal border crossings were detected on the main migratory routes into the EU, roughly in line with the number from the same month of last year.
For the second consecutive month, the Western Mediterranean migratory route accounted for more than half of all detections of illegal borders crossings into the EU. The number of migrants reaching Spain more than doubled from a year ago to nearly 6,500 in August.
In the first eight months of 2018, there were some 29.600 illegal border crossings on the Western Mediterranean route, more than double the figure from a year ago. Nationals of Morocco, Guinea and Mali accounted for the highest number of arrivals in Spain this year. Due to a significant increase of irregular crossings in recent months on the land border with Turkey, the total number of illegal migrants detected on the Eastern Mediterranean route in the first eight months of the year rose by 58% to around 34.300.
The largest number of migrants on this route so far this year were nationals of Syria and Iraq, although Afghans accounted for the largest number in August.
The total number of migrants detected on the Central Mediterranean route in the first eight months of 2018 fell to roughly 19 600, 80% lower than a year ago. So far this year, Tunisians and Eritreans were the two most represented nationalities on this route.
The main migratory route in the Western Balkans from Serbia to Hungary and Croatia continues to see low numbers of irregular migrants. However, a parallel route via Albania, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as from Serbia to Bosnia Herzegovina, has seen continuing migratory pressure, it noted. (end) nk.ha
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