Italians counted 4 times the deaths from migration in 2015 as 2014

As of 17 April, the total number of migrants reaching the Italian coasts is 21,191 since 1 January 2015, with a decrease during the month of March due to bad weather conditions, and a surge since 10 April, bringing the total number of arrivals in line with the number recorded in the same period in 2014. However, the death toll in the first four months of 2014 was 96, compared with 500 in the same period in 2015; this number excludes victims of the devastating shipwrecks on 13 and 19 April.^{[26]
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European migrant crisis

 

This likely indicates a combination of worse weather and worse judgement regarding boats or ferries of various kinds. This also indicates the extreme desperation for people to risk their lives in this way to get away from the chaos of war.