Bulgarian police arrested 15 alleged smugglers and detained hundreds of migrants following a nationwide raids.

The operation was sparked after authorities found 40 migrants, including children, inside a tanker truck specifically modified to transport people.

Bulgaria has emerged as a transit point to enter central and western Europe through illicit means.

https://www.euronews.com/2023/07/19/bulgaria-arrests-alleged-human-smugglers-in-nationwide-raids

#Bulgaria #Migration #Asylum #Refugees #PeopleSmuggling #Schengen #Border #BorderControl #Frontex

Many people in Europe, including people about to jet off to Mediterranean beaches for their summer holidays, seem oblivious to the daily tragedies unfolding in the same waters, a senior UN official has said.

It comes as the United Nations said some 289 children are known to have died in the first half of 2023 while trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Europe.

https://www.rte.ie/news/2023/0714/1394564-med-crossings/

#Europe #UN #UNICEF #Mediterranean #Migrants #Refugees #PeopleSmuggling

Sea-Watch pilots are rare witnesses to the evolution of Mediterranean migration routes.

The organisation uses aerial patrols to assist rescue operations, but also to document human rights violations in a vast, little-observed area.

https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2023/07/14/sea-watch-pilots-are-rare-witnesses-to-the-evolution-of-mediterranean-migration-routes_6052493_4.html

#Europe #Mediterranean #Migration #Migrants #Refugees #PeopleSmuggling

One of my comments earlier included a comment about migrants being killed in the channel as a result of people smuggling.

Well it has now happened

**Migrants die in biggest loss of life in Channel**

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59406355

#BBC #News #Channel #Migrants #Boats #PeopleSmuggling #peopletrafficking

27 people have died