Over 32,700 deaths of migrants have been reported in the Mediterranean since 2014, a UN spokesperson said Friday.

"With over 32,700 deaths since 2014, the Mediterranean has become a death trap for those seeking safety, a dramatic reminder of the risks faced by migrants and refugees," Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN secretary-general, told a regular daily briefing.

Dujarric said that 12 years ago today, off the coast of the Italian island of Lampedusa, 368 people lost their lives at sea while searching for a better life. The fishing boat carrying about 500 African migrants caught fire and sank off Lampedusa.

At the time, UN agencies said there was a widespread call for change and a commitment to ensure that such a tragedy would never happen again, the spokesperson noted. "Yet today we continue to mourn lives lost at sea," he said.

UN agencies estimated that since then, "an average of 42 people have lost their lives every week along the central Mediterranean route, and we estimated that one in five of them are children," he said.

The UN agencies stressed that it is important that international cooperation remains strong, that conflicts are addressed, and that safe and regular migration channels are strengthened to reduce dependence on dangerous sea journeys organized by traffickers, he said.