Number of migrants crossing Panama's Darien Gap surpasses 400,000 to record high

29/9/2023 12:10

        The number of people crossing the perilous Darien Gap linking Panama and Colombia has hit a record high of 400,000 in the year to September, official data showed, as migration to the United States intensified despite efforts to curb the flow.
        
        More than half of those migrants were children and babies, Panama's security ministry said in a statement, adding that September alone saw the number of crossings increase by a fifth compared to the previous month.
        
        The year-to-date figure of 402,300 migrants is almost double the number for the whole of 2022.
        
        The United Nations had estimated in April that the number of migrants for the entire year would be 400,000.