GENEVA, April 21 (Reuters) – Nearly 8,000 people died or disappeared on migration routes last year, with sea routes to Europe the most deadly and many victims lost in “invisible shipwrecks,” a UN agency said on Tuesday.
“These figures bear witness to our collective failure to prevent these tragedies,” Maria Moita, who directs the International Organization for Migration’s humanitarian and response department, told a Geneva press briefing.
Though the 7,904 people dead or missing was down from an all-time high of 9,197 in 2024, the IOM said that was partly due to 1,500 suspected cases that went unverified due to aid cuts.
Rohingya refugees wait to be rescued from the hull of their capsized boat as a National Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS) vessel approaches in waters some 16 nautical miles off West Aceh on March 21, 2024. AFP via Getty Images
Police officers carry the body of a victim after a boat carrying members of Myanmar’s persecuted Rohingya community sank in waters near the Thailand-Malaysia border, at Langkawi, Malaysia, on Nov. 10, 2025. REUTERS
Members of MSF (Médecins Sans Frontières) help migrants at Geras beach, in southern Lesbos, Greece, on Oct. 7, 2025. STRINGER/EPA / ShutterstockMore than four in every ten fatalities and disappearances came on sea routes to Europe.
Many cases were so-called “invisible shipwrecks” where entire boats are lost at sea and never found, the IOM said in a chilling new report.
The West African route northwards accounted for 1,200 deaths, while Asia reported a record number of fatalities, including hundreds of Rohingya refugees fleeing violence in Myanmar or misery in crowded refugee camps in Bangladesh.
Rohingya refugees stand in a queue to receive rations from the World Food Program(WFP), at a refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, on April 18, 2026. REUTERS“Routes are shifting in response to conflict, climate pressures and policy changes, but the risks are still very real,” said IOM Director General Amy Pope in a statement.
“Behind these numbers are people taking dangerous journeys and families left waiting for news that may never come.”
