http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/04/world/number-of-migrants-killed-while-fleeing-soars.html 2014-12-04 02:18:40 Number of Migrants Killed While Fleeing Soars The International Organization for Migration said nearly 5,000 have died in journeys for a better life, a majority in the Mediterranean. === The number of migrants killed this year while fleeing their home countries in the hope of better lives has more than doubled to nearly 5,000 from the previous year, the leading intergovernmental organization for migration issues said Wednesday. A spokesman for the group, the The spokesman, Leonard Doyle, provided the figures at a United Nations briefing in New York ahead of the organization’s release of more detailed data on migrant deaths. Last year, the organization So far this year, Mr. Doyle said, 3,000 have drowned in the Mediterranean, and nearly 5,000 migrants have died during their journeys worldwide. Mr. Doyle said many of the migrants were Syrians, Iraqis and “We know that across Africa, there are Facebook pages where smugglers advertise,” Mr. Doyle said. The 50-day war this summer between Israeli forces and One of the worst mass drownings of migrants on record happened The International Organization for Migration said those drownings were deliberate, a result of an argument between the smugglers and passengers. Mr. Doyle said smugglers were a different category of criminal than human traffickers, who buy and sell people, mostly women and children, often abducted and transported against their will. Smugglers, Mr. Doyle said, are in the business of transporting “people who want to leave, giving every penny they’ve got.”