In February 2018, the number of illegal border crossings detected on Europe’s four main migratory routes tracked by EU's external border agency Frontex dropped by nearly 60 percent from January, the Warsaw-based agency said on Thursday.

The agency said that a total of 3,560 illegal crossings were spotted in February, and attributed the overall drop to poor weather conditions in parts of the Mediterranean Sea used by illegal migrants and smugglers.

The total for the first two months of 2018 was roughly unchanged year-on-year at 11,800.

The Eastern Mediterranean route, which sees migrants travelling from Turkey through Cyprus and Greece and further westwards, accounted for the largest percentage of detections in February, even though the number of migrants on this route fell by 31 percent from the previous month to 2,250.

Two out of every five detected migrants in this corridor were nationals of Afghanistan, usually arriving by sea. One out of every five was of Turkish nationality, mainly crossing the land border.

On the so-called Western Balkan route, which runs from Greece and Turkey through Macedonia, Serbia, Bosnia, and Croatia, there were more than 420 detections of illegal border crossings reported in February. The combined total for the first two months reached nearly 1,200, which was 40 percent up from the same period a year ago.

Nationals of Afghanistan accounted for the largest share of migrants detected on this route.

On the Central Mediterranean route, which involves sea crossings from Egypt and Libya towards Italy and Malta, the numbers of irregular migrants continued to fall, with only 60 migrants detected in February, 70 percent down from January. This was the lowest monthly number in nine years. Bangladeshis and Tunisians were the most represented nationalities reaching Italy.

In the Western Mediterranean route, where migrants travel by sea from northern Africa into southern Spain, rough weather conditions reportedly led to an 80 percent drop in migrants reaching Spain in February, to a total of 820. However, due to a high number of arrivals in January, the total for the first two months of 2019 stood at more than 4,900, or 83 percent up from the same period last year.

Nationals of Morocco accounted for the largest number of detected migrants on this route.

Follow N1 via mobile apps for Android | iPhone/iPad | Windows| and social media on Twitter | Facebook.