AFP, Geneva :More than half a million migrants and refugees have crossed the Mediterranean to Europe so far this year — 383,000 of them arriving in Greece, the United Nations said on Tuesday.At the same time, some 2,980 people have perished or disappeared trying to make the perilous journey, the UN’s refugee agency said.AP report adds: The latest developments as European governments struggle to cope with tens of thousands of people trekking across Europe to find safety. All times local:The International Organization for Migration says a record number of people have crossed the Mediterranean into Europe this year, now topping a half a million.As of Tuesday, the group says 522,124 people have traveled by sea to reach the continent this year. Some 388,000 have entered via Greece, and more than 175,000 of the total came from war-torn Syria – the largest single refugee source as a country.IOM estimated that 2,892 people have died trying the crossing – the vast majority of those deaths coming among people seeking to reach Italy via North Africa.Poland’s prime minister says her government will take steps to bring in tens of thousands of ethnic Poles now living in Kazakhstan and Ukraine.The long-neglected issue was raised recently amid heated debates over 7,000 refugees from the Middle East that Poland is to host. Critics of the European Union refugee program say Poland’s first obligation should be toward ethnic Poles expelled from their homes under Soviet dictator Josef Stalin and to their descendants.Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz said Tuesday the Cabinet will earmark 30 million zlotys ($8 million) for the “repatriation” of ethnic Poles.Poland has brought in some families from Kazakhstan and conflict-torn eastern Ukraine, but the needs are much greater.Meanwhile, Doctors treated migrant children – including newborns – for exposure as dropping temperatures Monday worsened the plight of asylum-seekers walking for days trying to reach sanctuary in Europe.One group of migrants crossed into Croatia near the small village of Bapska, walking through cornfields and forests late Sunday to pass through a small gate that marks the border with Serbia.Vladimir Bozic, a physician from Doctors without Borders, said he had treated many young children for temperature-related illnesses.”We saw a 1-month old baby, even (one just) 15 days,” Bozic said.Volunteers from the U.N. High Commissioner from Refugees handed out blankets, warm drinks and food to those fleeing conflict and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Many are suffering in rising numbers from colds and the flu after days or weeks on the move in the rain and the mud.Paris report adds: A 24-year-old Danish woman sails refugees across windy straits to safety in Sweden. A Romanian, whose forebears were driven from their homeland, opens his house to today’s migrants. A girl brings pens and paper to migrant children sleeping at a Milan train station.While European governments string barbed wire across borders and assail each other over asylum rules, ordinary citizens are taking action to cope with an unprecedented inflow of migrants, their generosity offering moments of hope for the newcomers – and for Europe itself.
