Nearly 2,000 Europe-bound migrants have drowned this year - U.N.

Coffins containing bodies of migrants who died are carried off a navy ship at the Sicilian harbour of Augusta August 26, 2014. REUTERS/Antonio Parrinello

GENEVA (Reuters) - Nearly 2,000 people fleeing Africa and the Middle East have drowned in the Mediterranean this year, most of them in the past three months as they tried to reach Europe from Libya, the United Nations refugee agency said on Tuesday.

"In all, we believe that 1,889 people have perished this year while making such journeys, 1,600 of them since the start of June," UNHCR spokeswoman Melissa Fleming told a news briefing.