UN: Record 8,938 People Died on Migration Routes in 2024

FILE - Migrants aboard a Cyprus marine police patrol boat are brought to a harbor after being rescued from their own vessel off the Mediterranean island nation's southeastern coast of Protaras, Cyprus, on Jan. 14, 2020. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias, File)
FILE - Migrants aboard a Cyprus marine police patrol boat are brought to a harbor after being rescued from their own vessel off the Mediterranean island nation's southeastern coast of Protaras, Cyprus, on Jan. 14, 2020. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias, File)
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UN: Record 8,938 People Died on Migration Routes in 2024

FILE - Migrants aboard a Cyprus marine police patrol boat are brought to a harbor after being rescued from their own vessel off the Mediterranean island nation's southeastern coast of Protaras, Cyprus, on Jan. 14, 2020. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias, File)
FILE - Migrants aboard a Cyprus marine police patrol boat are brought to a harbor after being rescued from their own vessel off the Mediterranean island nation's southeastern coast of Protaras, Cyprus, on Jan. 14, 2020. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias, File)

Last year was the deadliest year for migrants, with nearly 9,000 people dying worldwide, the United Nations said on Friday, calling it an "unacceptable and preventable" tragedy.

"At least 8,938 people died on migration routes worldwide in 2024," the UN's migration agency said. "The 2024 toll continues a five-year trend of more deaths each year."

“The tragedy of the growing number of migrant deaths worldwide is both unacceptable and preventable. Behind every number is a human being, someone for whom the loss is devastating,” said IOM Deputy Director General for Operations Ugochi Daniels. “The increase in deaths across so many regions in the world shows why we need an international, holistic response that can prevent further tragic loss of life.”   

In addition to globally, 2024 was the deadliest year on record across most regions in the world, including in Asia (2,778 people recorded dead), Africa (2,242) and Europe (233), the agency said.

The 2,452 deaths documented in the Mediterranean Sea in 2024 are not the largest annual total ever, but the large number shows the need for adequate search and rescue systems as well as the need for safe and regular migration routes as alternatives to this risky journey, it added. 



At Least 12 Dead in Indonesia Bus Crash

People inspect the wreckage of a passenger bus after it sped out of control on a downhill road and overturned in Padang Panjang, West Sumatra province, Indonesia, Tuesday, May 6, 2025. (AP Photo/M.Sulthan Azzam)
People inspect the wreckage of a passenger bus after it sped out of control on a downhill road and overturned in Padang Panjang, West Sumatra province, Indonesia, Tuesday, May 6, 2025. (AP Photo/M.Sulthan Azzam)
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At Least 12 Dead in Indonesia Bus Crash

People inspect the wreckage of a passenger bus after it sped out of control on a downhill road and overturned in Padang Panjang, West Sumatra province, Indonesia, Tuesday, May 6, 2025. (AP Photo/M.Sulthan Azzam)
People inspect the wreckage of a passenger bus after it sped out of control on a downhill road and overturned in Padang Panjang, West Sumatra province, Indonesia, Tuesday, May 6, 2025. (AP Photo/M.Sulthan Azzam)

A bus carrying 34 passengers sped out of control on a downhill road and overturned in Indonesia’s West Sumatra province on Tuesday, killing at least 12 people and leaving others injured, police said.
The inter-province bus was on its way to Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, from Medan in North Sumatra province when its brakes apparently malfunctioned near a bus terminal in West Sumatra’s Padang city, said Reza Chairul Akbar Sidiq, the director of West Sumatra traffic police.
The Associated Press quoted him as saying that police were still investigating the cause of the accident, but survivors told authorities that the driver lost control of the vehicle in an area with a number of steep hills in Padang after the brakes malfunctioned.
The 12 bodies, including those of two children, were mostly pinned under the overturned bus, Sidiq said. All the victims, including 23 injured people, were taken to two nearby hospitals, he said.
Thirteen of the injured were treated for serious injuries, Sidiq said. The driver was among those in critical condition.
Local television footage showed the mangled bus on its side, surrounded by rescuers from the National Search and Rescue Agency, police and passersby as ambulances evacuated the injured victims and the dead.
Road accidents are common in Indonesia because of poor safety standards and infrastructure.