DHAKA: The number of people detected trying to enter the EU illegally in 2013 rose by nearly half on 2012, with nearly one in four from Syria.

A EU agency reports, says the BBC.

A total of 107,000 detections were registered by the EU’s borders agency, Frontex, compared with 72,500 in 2012, it said in its annual risk analysis.

While the figure rose by 48%, it is still much lower than in 2011, when the Arab Spring drove numbers to 141,000.

Italy is demanding help in coping with the numbers arriving by sea.

Most of last year’s clandestine migrants attempted to enter the EU via the Central Mediterranean sea route, heading for southern Italy.

As war raged in their home country, some 25,500 Syrians were detected trying to enter illegally, while Syrian applications for asylum in the EU nearly doubled on the previous year, to reach 50,096.

BDST: 1912 HRS, MAY 14, 2014