EU border agency expects same number of migrants via Libya this year as last

FILE PHOTO:Mamahba, 17, from Guinea is covered with thermal blankets aboard the former fishing trawler Golfo Azzurro of the Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms following a rescue operation near the coasts of Libya in the central Mediterranean Sea, February 3, 2017. REUTERS/Giorgos Moutafis/File Photo

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union should expect as many migrants crossing from Libya this year as last, when a record number disembarked in Italy, the head of the bloc's border agency said on Wednesday.

Some 1.6 million refugees and migrants reached the bloc by crossing the Mediterranean in 2014-2016 and the main route now leads from the shores of the lawless Libya to Italy.