ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - More than 1,000 people have died trying to reach Europe through the Central Mediterranean migration route in 2025, the United Nations' migration agency said Wednesday, calling for urgent regional cooperation to mitigate against further loss of life after events in recent months have added to the death toll.

Thousands of migrants try to cross the deadly Mediterranean Sea illegally every year in search of a better life abroad, including a large number from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and the Kurdish areas of Syria, Iran, and Turkey.

There have been increasing reports of migrants taking the Libyan route to reach Italy and other European countries.

“According to the latest data from IOM’s [the International Organization for Migration] Missing Migrants Project, the death toll in the Central Mediterranean has already surpassed 1,000 this year,” the statement read.

On November 8, a vessel carrying 49 migrants capsized after departing from the northwestern Libyan city of Zuwara. The IOM said after drifting at sea for six days, only seven men were rescued. 

The other 42 are still missing and presumed dead, including 29 from Sudan, eight from Somalia, three from Cameroon, and two from Nigeria.

“This tragic event, coming just weeks after other deadly incidents off Surman and Lampedusa, underscores the persistent dangers faced by migrants and refugees along the Central Mediterranean Route,” the organization lamented.

The UN agency stressed “the urgent need for strengthened regional cooperation, expanded safe and regular migration pathways, and more effective search and rescue operations to prevent further loss of life.”

In October, 61 migrants’ bodies were recovered on the coast of Tripoli, with the IOM saying at least 50 people had died after a vessel carrying 75 Sudanese refugees caught fire.

Many Kurds who sought to cross into Europe illegally have been returned from Libya to the Kurdistan Region this year.

Earlier this month, Bakr Ali, head of the Association of Returned Refugees, said the Kurdistan Region has repatriated over 300 migrants en route to Europe from African countries since the beginning of 2025, with many taking the Libya route.

Iraq’s embassy in Libya and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) repatriated over 50 Kurdish migrants from Libya to the Kurdistan Region in September and October as part of a broader effort to return stranded citizens.

Over 700,000 migrants were registered in Libya last year, according to the IOM.

The agency called for strengthened regional cooperation, expanded safe migration pathways, and more effective search and rescue operations to prevent further deaths.