The search operation continues, though the exact number of the missing migrants is unknown.
Europe has been beset by a massive refugee crisis, with hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants fleeing their crisis-torn countries in the Middle East and North Africa to escape violence and poverty. The majority of them cross the Mediterranean Sea and arrive in the European Union using southern EU nations as transit points.
EU border agency Frontex detected over 1.83 million illegal border crossings in 2015, in contrast to some 283,000 in 2014.
According to the International organization for migration, since the beginning of the year to October 25 the European coast of the sea reached 328,225 people. In 2015, the same route used over 1 million people.
