More than 520,000 migrants crossed the Mediterranean this year

ROME _ Some 522,000 migrants have made the dangerous crossing across the Mediterranean so far this year, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported Tuesday in Geneva.tmpplchld More than 388,000 of them went by boat from Turkey to Greece, while 131,000 ventured from Northern Africa to Italy.tmpplchld Smaller numbers have arrived in Spain and Malta.tmpplchld “Even if arrivals are still increasing, it is necessary to emphasize that this is not an emergency in terms of numbers,” IOM director general William Lacy Swing said in New York, pointing to the 4 million Syrian refugees being hosted by Middle Eastern countries and Turkey.tmpplchld Europe should create legal channels for migrants so that they do not have to turn to people smugglers and their boats, he said.tmpplchld Nearly 2,900 people have died this year trying to cross the Mediterranean, according to IOM.tmpplchld An estimated 1,151 migrants were pulled from boats off the coast of Libya on Monday in 11 rescue operations by Italian authorities, according to Ansa news agency.tmpplchld tmpplchld The migrants were transported to the Italian ports of Lampedusa and Pozzallo.tmpplchld On Monday, the European Council announced the second phase of the EU operation to tackle the surging numbers of migrants crossing the Mediterranean, and renamed it Operation Sophia.tmpplchld Starting Oct. 7, officers “will be able to board, search, seize and divert vessels suspected of being used for human smuggling” in international waters, it said.tmpplchld The first phase focused on dealing with the influx of migrants, and only allowed voluntary boarding of vessels.tmpplchld The second stage, which aims to reduce the capacities of people smugglers, was approved in mid-September but was held up while contributing states mustered the resources.tmpplchld The operation was renamed Sophia from EUNAVFOR, after a baby girl born to a Somali migrant during a rescue by a German vessel.tmpplchld Most of the migrants arriving in Greece are making their way to neighboring Macedonia, across the Balkans, and on to Austria and Germany.tmpplchld Three quarters of the 103,000 arrivals who have been registered in Macedonia since June were from Syria. A tenth was from Afghanistan, according to IOM.tmpplchld Further west in France, authorities told broadcaster iTele that a 20-year-old migrant from Iraq was found dead in a truck near the port of Calais.tmpplchld The city is one of the main crossing points for migrants and refugees trying to reach Britain. Twelve people are estimated to have died trying to cross the English Channel this summer.tmpplchld ___tmpplchld (c)2015 Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH (Hamburg, Germany)tmpplchld Visit Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH (Hamburg, Germany) at www.dpa.de/English.82.0.htmltmpplchld Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.tmpplchld