(VOVworld)- The number of refugees who arrived on Europe's shores plunged by nearly two-thirds last year, but the number of those who died on the often perilous journey in the Mediterranean Sea rose sharply.

An Afghan refugee is held by her mother at a refugee camp north of Athens yesterday Source: AP/Press Association Images

According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the EU border agency Frontex, about 364,000 people seeking work or refugee protection crossed the sea between January and December, compared to more than one million in 2015. A sharp drop in arrivals to Greece outweighed record migration to Italy. The decrease was largely owing to a Turkey-EU deal whereby Ankara took back migrants who crossed by sea to the Greek islands and the EU resettled Syrian refugees living in Turkey.