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UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 31-- Compared with 2017 when the European migrant crisis started, the journey has become even more desperate for migrants to cross the Mediterranean Sea and settle in Europe due to polices in countries of both origin and destination. A United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) report entitled "Desperate Journeys" was released earlier Wednesday, with numbers, trends and root causes of migrants' trips across the Mediterranean in 2018. It registered 139,300 refugees and migrant arrivals at European shores in 2018, the lowest number in five years. Joung-ah Ghedini-Williams, UNHCR's New York-based communication officer, said this is more of an indication that it has become harder for people to flee and find safe access to asylum, rather than that there are fewer problems for people to flee from. RISING DEATH TOLL The report showed a sharp increase in the number of deaths at sea. An estimated 2,275 people, or six a day, died or went missing crossing the Mediterranean in 2018, making it the world's deadliest sea crossing. Shifts in policy by some European states left large numbers of people stranded at sea for days on end, waiting for permission to dock. Moreover, NGO boats and their crews faced growing restrictions on their search and rescue operations, the report said. On routes from Libya to Europe, one person died at sea for every 14 who arrived in Europe, which marks a sharp rise from 2017. | 
