A total of 163,368 migrants were rescued at sea this year up to November 30, according to Italy’s Ministry of the Interior.

“That is an increase of 9,923 during the most recent month, which is only about a third of September’s 26,107 arrivals... There were many days of bad weather,” International Organisation for Migration Italy chief of mission Federico Soda said.

He noted that despite rougher winter sea conditions, migrant smugglers continued to find passengers seeking safety in Europe.

In November, Syrians comprised the largest nationality arriving in Italy – nearly 3,000 or a third of the total. Eritreans dropped to just over 300 arrivals,

“We have noticed that lately Syrians are mostly arriving on boats leaving from Turkey, while arrivals from Libya are mainly composed of sub-Saharans,” Mr Soda said.

“At this stage we cannot say if this could be a new trend, but we will investigate this,” he said.

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