What does the Mediterranean journey actually entail?
Migrants leaving from north Africa for Italy do so overwhelmingly from Libya, though there are also routes to Italy from Egypt and Morocco, and from Turkey to Greece. A 2013 report for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), by Altai consulting, estimates that the cost of getting to Libya varies from about $200 to $1,000 from west Africa, and from about $1,000 to $6,000 from the Horn of Africa. Subsequent transit by sea runs from a few hundred dollars to a couple of thousand. At the coast passengers are either loaded onto rigid inflatable boats with limited fuel and no captain or guide to help them or are herded onto rickety fishing boats which do have a skipper and crew.
