They brave the risk of drowning , drifting endlessly or dying of thirst to make it illegally to a better life in Europe . Migrants traveling , often on overfilled boats , usually make it . But last year , 3,419 did n't . They perished in the Mediterranean Sea , the United Nations Refugee Agency said Wednesday . Some went under , like the 500 killed , when their angry traffickers sank their boat on purpose in September , according to survivors . The men , women and children had refused to transfer to very small boat they felt sure would not hold them and was n't seaworthy . They asked to be taken back to their departure port in Egypt . Instead the traffickers rammed their boat and laughed while they watched it sink , the survivors said . The seafaring dangers are little deterrent for those leaving abject misery , such as the intense bloodshed of wars , which is driving hordes into asylum . More than 207,000 people have crossed the Mediterranean for Europe this year illegally -- almost three times the previous high of about 70,000 in 2011 , the agency said . That 's 60 % of the 348,000 boat migrants worldwide this year . Figures on such crossings is inexact , as many boats elude detection . `` Europe , facing conflicts to its south ( Libya ) , east ( Ukraine ) and south-east ( Syria/Iraq ) is seeing the largest number of sea arrivals , '' the UNHCR said . Nearly 50 % of the sea arrivals are from the civil-war ravaged Syria and from Eritrea , where a dictator has ruled for more than 20 years , and where , Human Rights Watch says , young people are forcibly conscripted into the military , often for open-ended servitude akin to slavery . The Italian government has led search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean -- called Mare Nostrum or `` Our Sea '' -- rescuing tens of thousands of migrants . Despite pleas from various aid agencies , it ended those operations in October . But boat migrants come from many conflict regions . The Horn of Africa region saw an estimated 82,680 people crossing mainly from Ethiopia and Somalia making their way to Yemen and other countries in the Middle East . And in Asia , nearly 54,000 people have taken to the sea , the majority from Bangladesh and Myanmar crossing through the Bay of Bengal . Last month , at least 24 people died after a boat carrying 43 illegal migrants and asylum seekers sank near Istanbul , Turkey . Nine of the passengers were carrying Afghan passports .
UN : 3,419 die in migrant boats on the Mediterranean Sea in 2014 . 207,000 people made it to Europe by boat illegally , nearly three times the previous record . Comment: