Refugee influx to Europe hits 100,000 in 2017, says IOM

Over 100,000 refugees have made the perilous Mediterranean crossing to Europe so far this year, figures by the United Nations show.

The figures released by the UN's International Organization for Migration (IOM) on Tuesday showed that between January 1 and July 3 more than 85,000 migrants landed in Italy, nearly 9,300 arrived in Greece, nearly 6,500 in Spain and over 270 in Cyprus. 

According to IOM, nearly 2,250 people have died in 2017 attempting the sea crossing from North Africa.

Tensions have been mounting among EU nations on how to tackle the refugee crisis.

Italy has taken in nearly 85 percent of the arrivals, most of them sub-Saharan Africans crossing from Libya.

Rome has pleaded for help from other European Union nations, saying it is struggling to cope.

Over the weekend, Italian Interior Minister Marco Minniti called on EU neighbors to open their ports to rescue ships picking up refugees in the Mediterranean. 

"We are under enormous pressure,"  Minniti said in an interview with Il Messaggero.

The Italian government has already issued a drastic threat to close its own ports to the boats. The country's Red Cross warned that the situation in overcrowded reception centers was becoming critical. 

Meanwhile, IOM chief William Lacy Swing has appealed for the rest of the EU to show more solidarity. "The reception of rescued migrants cannot be seen as an issue only for Italy, but a matter for Europe as a whole." 

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) also warned that Italy cannot continue absorbing thousands of refugees on its own.

SS