A total of 34 migrants, including 20 children, have been found dead in Niger Republic’s vast desert, after being abandoned by their smuggler.
In a statement, the Government said that Agadez, which is in the landlocked country’s arid north, is a popular way-station for migrants attempting to traverse the Sahara Desert and reach Libya and eventually Europe.
The Interior Minister, Bazoum Mohammed, on Wednesday explained that the migrants had died of thirst. He stated that of the adult migrants, nine were women and five were men.
Two victims have been identified as Nigerian but the nationalities of the others were not yet clear.
Last year, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said that about 120,000 people crossed through Agadez.
However, IOM confirmed that 37 migrants died in the desert last year.
