Migrants reach Europe via other routes as Italy closes ports

The number of migrants found to be crossing theMediterranean Sea from northern Africa to Spain rose by 22 per centin July, amid an Italian clampdown on arrivals at its shores, theEuropean Union's border agency Frontex reported Tuesday.Italy has been closing its ports to vessels rescuing migrants in theMediterranean, insisting that other EU member states must first agreeto take in those on board.Frontex found that around 1,100 migrants reached Europe via theso-called central-Mediterranean route in July, slightly down from1,150 in June. By the end of July, almost 4,900 people had travelledthat route - just over a quarter of the arrivals detected during thesame period last year.Around 13,000 people were recorded crossing into Spain betweenJanuary and July, according to the data published Tuesday.The busiest route, meanwhile, was through the eastern Mediterraneanvia Greece, where almost 5,800 arrivals were recorded in July andnearly 28,200 since the start of the year.The eastern Mediterranean figure is 6 per cent lower than last year -due largely to a drop in land crossings from Turkey to Greece.However, the Greek islands registered a 25-per-cent increase inarrivals compared to the first seven months of 2018. The upstreamwestern Balkan countries counted nearly 5,800 illegal bordercrossings since January - double last year's figures.Overall, around 54,300 illegal border crossings were detected alongEurope's main migration routes in the first seven months of 2019.This is around 30 per cent lower than during the same period lastyear, according to Frontex.