DUBAI: The last message Deyaa’s family received came through a borrowed satellite phone as he crossed the Mediterranean Sea.
“Mama, I am Deyaa. I am fine.”
It was Aug. 24, 2014. Two days later, the boat he was on sank off the Libyan coast. He was never found.
Deyaa, a Syrian photographer and father to a baby girl, had left the country after a close friend was detained at the Syrian-Lebanese border.
Deyaa, a Syrian photographer and father to a baby girl, had left the country
after a close friend was detained at the Syrian-Lebanese border. (Supplied)
Six people from his neighborhood set out on that journey together. Three of them — including Deyaa — remain missing to this day.
More than a decade later, his family is still searching for answers — with no official confirmation, no identified remains, and no place to grieve.
What happened to Deyaa is far from an isolated case. Across the world’s migration routes, thousands of similar journeys end without record, recognition or closure.
According to data from the International Organization for Migration’s Missing Migrants Project, nearly 8,000 people died or went missing along migration routes in 2025 — an average of more than 20 every day, making it the deadliest year on record.
Yet these figures are widely understood to represent only a fraction of the true toll.
Many deaths occur in remote desert crossings, conflict zones or at sea, where boats can vanish without a trace — reflecting a rise in “invisible shipwrecks,” where vessels disappear without distress signals or survivors.
The project has recorded more than 80,000 migrant deaths and disappearances worldwide since 2014. However, humanitarian organizations estimate the true figure to be significantly higher.
“I think the available data does a fairly good job of capturing the numbers where monitoring is logistically possible,” Tsedenya Girmay, a researcher with the Women in Migration Network, told Arab News.
“But the problem is that a large portion of the eastern migration route is in deserted, remote areas.”
The broader context reflects a sharp rise in global displacement.
According to the World Migration Report 2026, an estimated 281 million people now live outside their country of origin, while more than 117 million have been forcibly displaced by conflict, instability and environmental pressures.
Conflicts in countries including Sudan, Syria, Myanmar, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Yemen — along with the war in Ukraine and the conflict in Gaza — have continued to drive displacement.
By the end of 2024, more than 120 million people were living in displacement worldwide. That means roughly one in every 30 people globally is now living outside their country of origin.
The steady arrival of migrants on the shores of southern Europe and across the English Channel has fueled a growing political backlash in many Western countries.
Images of overcrowded boats landing on Mediterranean beaches or small vessels reaching the UK coast have intensified debates over border security, asylum systems and national identity, helping drive support for anti-immigration parties and populist movements across parts of Europe.
Migrants onboard a smugglers' boat attempt to cross the English Channel off the beach of Gravelines, northern France, on March 4, 2026. (AFP)
Governments have responded with tougher border controls, stricter asylum policies and expanded detention and deportation measures — developments that humanitarian groups warn may push desperate migrants toward even more dangerous and poorly monitored routes.
According to Girmay, while some data is captured through coastguards and survivor accounts, deaths in desert crossings, during land transit, or inside informal detention sites are “extremely underreported,” leaving a significant gap between recorded figures and reality.
In many cases, even where deaths are recorded, basic identifying information is missing, making it difficult for families to trace loved ones or obtain closure.
Scott Craig, a spokesperson for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, told Arab News many migrants also fall through gaps between humanitarian, protection and public service systems, particularly when they are in transit or lack documentation.
“Many avoid seeking assistance out of fear of detention, deportation or discrimination,” he said, warning that this increases exposure to exploitation and abuse while making it harder for humanitarian organizations to reach those most at risk.
British Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood (C-R) and France’s Interior Minister Laurent Nunez (C-L) inspect a smuggler’s boat
on the shores of Zuydcoote on April 23, 2026. (AFP)
For families like Deyaa’s, that gap is deeply personal.
“Missing migrants are not numbers,” his sister, Nour Tahqakha, told Arab News. “They are human beings with dreams, hopes, and families who continue searching for them.”
For Nour, the loss of her brother has never been resolved.
From what her family was told, the boat capsized in the Mediterranean after panic broke out as rescue ships approached, leaving around 200 people unaccounted for.
Survivors were taken to the Italian coast, but many were never found, with some later believed to have been buried in unmarked graves in Libya — often referred to as “strangers’ graveyards” — without identification or DNA testing.
More than a decade after the boat sank, the family still has no official confirmation of what happened, no identified remains, and no grave to visit.
“We have not been the same people since Aug. 24, 2014,” she said. “Living without knowing is a form of suffering in itself.”
Migrants seated on a capsized boat off Libya on April 4, 2026. (AFP)
In the years that followed, the family searched for answers with little support.
They received no meaningful information from authorities, and at times were exploited by individuals who sent photos of people resembling Deyaa, offering false hope in exchange for money.
“There is no central system, no authority truly responsible for answering the most basic question a family can ask: where is our loved one?” she said.
Batoul Karbijha, a Syrian journalist and co-founder of the Association of Families of Missing Asylum Seekers, said this lack of answers reflects a broader structural failure in how cases of missing migrants are handled.
She told Arab News that one of the most effective tools in pushing the issue onto the global agenda has been the power of personal testimony, with families speaking publicly about their experiences to humanize the issue and challenge the tendency to reduce migrant deaths to statistics.
Karbijha also pointed to the absence of a coordinated international system, with information fragmented between countries, coastguards, forensic institutions and humanitarian organizations, often with little data sharing between them.
A migrant carries his child as he tries to board a smugglers' boat in an attempt to cross the English Channel off the beach of Gravelines on March 3, 2026. (AFP)
Families are frequently left unsure where to report a disappearance or which authority is responsible.
“In many cases, bodies recovered from the sea or along migration routes are buried without DNA testing or documentation,” she said.
“Families are rarely contacted, and there are no consistent protocols for collecting data from relatives.”
Cross-border coordination remains weak, said Karbijha, despite migration routes spanning multiple countries.
In her experience, responsibility often stops at national borders, leaving families to navigate complex systems on their own.
“Missing migrants are often treated as numbers connected to border management, rather than as human beings whose families have a right to truth and dignity,” she said.
Routes are changing in response to conflict, climate pressures and tightening border controls, pushing migrants toward poorly monitored crossings. (AFP)
She added that building networks between affected families, civil society organizations, researchers, journalists and legal actors has been key, helping to reduce isolation while strengthening both advocacy efforts and political pressure.
Through AFOMAS, Karbijha documents cases, connects families with legal and humanitarian actors, and advocates for policies that protect their rights and dignity. The group also works to preserve the memory of those who disappeared, insisting they be remembered as individuals, not statistics.
But despite these efforts, the challenges facing migrants continue to evolve.
Routes are changing in response to conflict, climate pressures and tightening border controls, pushing migrants toward more remote and poorly monitored crossings.
Craig from the IFRC said local communities and humanitarian actors are often the first to respond along these routes, but are facing growing pressure as needs increase and resources remain limited.
One example, according to Women in Migration Network’s Girmay, is migrants traveling along the Horn of Africa route toward Yemen, where the dangers often extend beyond the journey itself.
“One of the more important and growing risks is what happens after interception, specifically, detention in informal or state-adjacent facilities, where abuse is extremely rampant and oversight is virtually nonexistent,” she said.
Humanitarian groups warn government regulations may push desperate migrants toward even more dangerous routes. (AFP)
Migrants — including unaccompanied minors and women — are often held in overcrowded sites by traffickers running kidnapping or ransom operations, armed factions, or actors linked to formal migration enforcement, she added, blurring the line between detention and captivity.
“Deaths inside these facilities are difficult to quantify because there is no independent monitoring presence and oftentimes we rely on survivors,” Girmay said.
At the same time, new risks are emerging.
Girmay noted the growing use of digital tools to monitor, capture and extort migrants and their families, adding another layer of abuse that often goes undocumented.
She said humanitarian organizations need significantly greater access and sustained funding to operate along high-risk interior routes, including mobile response capacity in remote areas and dedicated protection and support services for survivors of trafficking and detention abuse.
However, these efforts are being constrained by wider funding pressures.
In 2025, the IFRC’s route-based migration programs supported more than 1.17 million people, including over 535,000 through humanitarian service points along migration routes, according to Craig.
Despite this, he said needs continue to outpace available resources, particularly in under-monitored and high-risk areas.
For families like that of Deyaa’s, the missing Syrian photographer, those gaps translate into years of unanswered questions.
“When a boat sinks, it briefly becomes news,” Nour said. “For a moment, people talk about it, and then it disappears from public attention.”
“There are no proper investigations, no documented cases, no accountability. Meanwhile, we are left behind with a number that once was our brother.”
