Mediterranean rescuers say saved 175,000 people since 2015

Berlin: Maritime rescue organisations said Wednesday they had pulled more than 175,000 people from the Mediterranean over the past 10 years, as waves...

Berlin: Maritime rescue organisations said Wednesday they had pulled more than 175,000 people from the Mediterranean over the past 10 years, as waves of migrants sought to use the dangerous sea route to reach Europe.

The group of 21 NGOS active in the region estimated that at least 28,932 people had died while trying to cross the sea since 2015.

The majority had died in the central Mediterranean -- waters between between Libya, Tunisia, Italy and Malta -- Mirka Schaefer of German NGO SOS Humanity told a Berlin press conference.

In that area, the equivalent of five adults and one child lost their lives every day over the past decade, she said.

The number of unrecorded cases was likely to be "significantly higher", she added.