Number of migrants arriving rises in Italy, drops in Greece, says border agency

The number of migrants arriving in Italy from northern Africa increased by about a quarter in June compared to May, European border agency Frontex said on Tuesday.

Some 22,500 people arrived on Italy's shores, 24 percent more than in May, most of them coming from Nigeria, Eritrea and Sudan, Frontex said in a statement.

In the year to date, the number of arrivals on the central Mediterranean route was broadly the same as last year, the agency said.

The number of migrants arriving in Greece from Turkey was 95 percent lower compared to last year, mainly because of an agreement between the EU and Turkey to send migrants back, as well as stricter controls imposed by the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia at its border with Greece. 

[Reuters]