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As Europe works to stem the flow of migrants and asylum seekers across the Mediterranean, thousands continue to drown while rescuers scramble to save people from unseaworthy vessels.
By
Ben Winsor

6 Feb 2017 - 2:15 PM  UPDATED 6 Feb 2017 - 2:15 PM

Last year more than 5,000 migrants and asylum seekers drowned attempting to reach Europe from Turkey and North Africa.

In an ongoing wave of migration across the Mediterranean, 2016 was the worst year for fatalities so far, with smugglers filling increasingly unseaworthy vessels far beyond capacity.

More than 250 people have been reported dead or missing in the first weeks of 2017.

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Mediterranean countries and local NGOs have rescued tens of thousands from the sea in recent years. Well over one million people have risked their lives.
AFP
02 / 20
Migrants flail in the water seeking rescue from Proactiva Open Arms NGO 12 miles from Libya on 4/10/2016.
Migrants flail in the water seeking rescue from Proactiva Open Arms NGO 12 miles from Libya on 4/10/2016.
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3-year-old Idris, from Mali, sleeps next to his mother Aicha Keita on the deck of a Spanish rescue ship 13/1/2017.
AP Photo/Olmo Calvo
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Ushman, 19, from Guinea, in a heating blanket after being rescued by members of Proactive Open Arms NGO, about 24 miles north of Libya, 27/1/2017.
AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti
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Cyprus police rescued 123 migrants, believed to be Syrians, left adrift off the island's northwest coast by a boatman who made off on a jet ski 10/11/2016.
IAKOVOS HATZISTAVROU/AFP/Getty Images
06 / 20
Migrants and refugees panic as they fall in water during a rescue operation run by Maltese NGO Moas and Italian Red Cross 3/11/2016.
ANDREAS SOLARO/AFP/Getty Images
07 / 20
Hundreds of thousands of people risk their lives on the Mediterranean each year, with thousands drowning in unseaworthy, overcrowded vessels.
ARIS MESSINIS/AFP/Getty Images
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A pacifier lies next to the body of a baby on a beach in Canakkale on 1/30/ 2016 after at least 33 migrants drowned crossing to Greece from Turkey.
OZAN KOSE/AFP/Getty Images
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A Turkish gendarme carries the body of a child on a beach in Canakkale on 30/1/2016.
OZAN KOSE/AFP/Getty Images
10 / 20
Tombstones are placed on graves of unidentified 85 refugees, mostly women and children, who drowned at sea in an attempt to cross from Turkey 4/4/2016.
Mahmut Serdar Alakus/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
11 / 20
Locals from coastal areas have made grizzly discoveries of wreckages, lifejackets and bodies washed ashore.
Mahmut Serdar Alakus/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
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A child wrapped in a survival blanket looks on as migrants and refugees arrive on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing from Turkey 2/3/2016, in Mytilene.
NurPhoto/NurPhoto via Getty Images
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Sub-saharan migrants on a rescue ship after being rescued from a rubber boat sailing out of control about 21 miles north of Libya, on Friday, 3/2/2017.
AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti
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Two days after being rescued, migrants catch sight of the Italian coast for the first time, Strait of Sicily, Mediterranean Sea, 23/8/2015.
Francesco Zizola/Noor, World Press Photo via AP
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There are numerous migrant routes accross the Mediterranean from Egypt, Turkey, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco to Greece, Spain and Italy.
AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti
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Many of the boats are overcrowded, some are just inflatable rubber dinghies 27/1/2017.
AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti
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Women from Mali after being rescued about 20 miles north of Libya. Rescuers also retrieved several bodies from the water 13/1/2017.
AP Photo/Olmo Calvo
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Spanish, Italian, Greek and Cypriot authorities work alongside NGOs to rescue as many migrants as possible, with thousands making the trip every week 14/1/2017.
AP Photo/Olmo Calvo
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Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms assists migrants aboard a wooden boat sailing out of control off the coast of Libya 3/2/2017.
AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti
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A Syrian refugee child sleeps on his father's arms after arriving on a dinghy from the Turkish coast to the Lesbos, Greece Sunday, 4 /10/2015.
AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen
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