when their boat capsized in the Mediterranean, one of the worst refugee drowning episodes in decades. That puts the total number of deaths in the Mediterranean over 1,500 this year. That's a tenfold increase over the same period in 2014, and as the sea warms more are likely to attempt the journey to Europe. Why is the crossing more deadly? Rough weather is partly to blame, as is a rise in violence associated with political instability in Africa and the Middle East. Humanitarian-aid officials emphasise two other factors. One is the suspension last October of Italy’s Mare Nostrum search-and-rescue mission. The second factor is that the smugglers are cramming more and more people on ever more vulnerable craft as they run short of boats. Given this perfect storm of contributing forces it is tragic but unsurprising that the toll continues to grow. Just today new reports circulated that two more migrant ships had issued distress calls.
