The number of people taking the world’s deadliest migratory route – across the central Mediterranean – to reach the EU has more than doubled, driving irregular crossings at the bloc’s external borders to their highest level in seven years.
As migration returns to the top of Europe’s political agenda, including in Britain, Europe’s border and coast guard agency said on Friday irregular arrivals had risen by 13% between January and July to 176,100, the highest number for the period since 2016.
