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More than 50 African migrants are feared too have died in the Sahara desert of northern Niger on Tuesday after being abandoned by their drivers, aid workers and local officials said on Tuesday.
A convoy of three pick-up trucks were transporting over 70 migrants north through the Sahara Desert towards Libya — a typical route for West Africans seeking to reach Europe — when the drivers abandoned them.
Twenty-three of the migrants survived after walking to a nearby town for help, the International Organisation for Migration said in a press release on Tuesday, which said the survivors came from Nigeria, Gambia, Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal.
A local official told Reuters that of the remaining 52, at least 15 were known to have died from thirst while attempts on Monday to find the rest were unsuccessful. There was no immediate word on their nationalities.
“The migrants were abandoned about 50 miles from Siguidine,” Fatoumi Goudou, a prefect in the Bilma department of Niger, told Reuters.
It is not clear why the drivers abandoned their passengers, but rival militias and militants seeking money often stop migrant convoys and are a constant hazard for smugglers.
A convoy of three pick-up trucks were transporting over 70 migrants north through the Sahara Desert towards Libya — a typical route for West Africans seeking to reach Europe — when the drivers abandoned them.
Twenty-three of the migrants survived after walking to a nearby town for help, the International Organisation for Migration said in a press release on Tuesday, which said the survivors came from Nigeria, Gambia, Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal.
A local official told Reuters that of the remaining 52, at least 15 were known to have died from thirst while attempts on Monday to find the rest were unsuccessful. There was no immediate word on their nationalities.
“The migrants were abandoned about 50 miles from Siguidine,” Fatoumi Goudou, a prefect in the Bilma department of Niger, told Reuters.
It is not clear why the drivers abandoned their passengers, but rival militias and militants seeking money often stop migrant convoys and are a constant hazard for smugglers.
