y1WlEjNAYV3-K1WpS3N1_iK3Azo TaJuLa's Blog: Niger Migrants Die Of Thirst And Hunger In Sahara Desert.

Friday 1 November 2013

Niger Migrants Die Of Thirst And Hunger In Sahara Desert.

Death in the desert: A graphic showing where the bodies of 87 migrants were found in Niger after two vehicles taking them to Algeria broke down before reaching the border
The bodies of 87 migrants were found on Wednesday in Niger's desert north after they died of thirst just a few kilometres from the border of Algeria, their planned destination, sources said. The corpses of the seven men, 32 women and 48 children were in addition to five bodies of women and girls found earlier, a security source said. All died in early October after a failed attempt to reach Algeria that began in late September, the source added. The corpses were decomposed. it was horrible,' he said. We found them in different locations in a 20km (12-mile) radius and in small groups, often under trees, or under the sun. Nigerien officials said on Monday that dozens of migrants, most of them women and children, had died of thirst in the Sahara desert earlier this month.
Two vehicles were carrying the migrants when they broke down, one about 83 kilometres from the city of Arlit, northern Niger where they had set off from, and another at 158 kilometres, a security source said. 'The first vehicle broke down. The second returned to Arlit to get a spare part after getting all the migrants it was carrying to alight, but it too broke down,' said the source. 'We think that the migrants were in the desert for seven days and on the fifth day, they began to leave the broken down vehicle in search of a well,' said the source. However, 21 people had survived, the source said, including a man who walked to Arlit and a woman who was saved by a driver who came across her in the desert and took her to the same city. Niger is one of the world's poorest countries and has been hit by successive food crises. Libya, rather than Algeria, is more frequently the favoured country of transit for west Africans making the journey across the continent, many of whom aim to travel on to Europe.

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