Mexico City, December 10 (RHC) -- More than 3,300 people who have entered Mexico in caravans since October are currently seeking asylum in the country as many flee violence and persecution, according to a report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Many who are part of a mass exodus from Central American countries are in need of humanitarian assistance, including children, newborns, pregnant women, elderly people, and people with disabilities, who have been suffering physical and mental distress, health issues, and exhaustion, the agency warned.

The Mexican government has reported that around 8,250 people have entered the country since October 19 when the first caravan arrived in Mexico. Organizers of the Central American Exodus have given higher estimates of around 11,200 people.

According to Doctors Without Borders, each year 500,000 people flee poverty and extreme violence in Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala, where they say “high levels of violence in the region, known as the Northern Triangle of Central America, are comparable to that in war zones.”