Over 1,500 have died in Med in 2018 -IOM

(ANSA) - Geneva, July 27 - Over 1,500 migrant men, women and children have died while seeking to cross the Mediterranean in 2018, the IOM's Missing Migrants Project said on Friday. This makes the year "one of the deadliest on record" on a per capita basis, the UN migration agency added. In absolute terms the number of deaths are coming down, with 1,504 reported so far this year compared to 2,401 over the same period in 2017. However, arrivals have also plummeted, from 111,753 in 2017 to 55,001 this year. Arrivals to Italy were down by 80%, IOM added.