The United Nations says more than 2,500 people died in the Mediterranean Sea this year as they tried to reach Europe.

Those who survive the journey on smuggler's boats mostly arrive on Italy's shores – where their future will be determined, in large part, by the EU's new migration process, should it be ratified next year.

This fall, NPR's Ruth Sherlock joined a rescue ship run by the charity Doctors Without Borders where migrants picked up at sea told her about the risks they took escaping their country and their hopes for a new life in Europe.

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