Reports are that at least 44 migrants, including babies and women, have been found dead after their vehicle broke down in the desert of northern Niger on their way to Libya.
According to the mayor of Agadez, a remote town on the edge of the Sahara desert that has become the smuggling capital of Africa, Rhissa Feltou, He said:
“The number of migrants who died in the desert is 44 for now,”
A team has been dispatched to the site by The Red Cross to gather Information on the present circumstances.
An Undisclosed security source said:
“the sub-Saharan migrants, including babies and women, died of thirst because their vehicle broke down”.
Recall that, in May, soldiers on patrol in northern Niger rescued around 40 migrants from various West African countries who had been abandoned in the desert by people-smugglers while travelling to Libya.
The group included citizens of The Gambia, Nigeria, Guinea, Senegal and Niger, all hoping to reach the Libyan coast so they could cross the Mediterranean to Europe.
