International News

NIAMEY, July 19 (APP/AFP) – Twenty-three west
African migrants, including a seven-year-old girl, were found alive after being abandoned in the depths of the Sahara, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Tuesday
An IOM worker told AFP the migrants were found some 300 kilometres
(180 miles) from the Niger city of Agadez, a key hub on the edge of the Sahara for African migrants trying to reach Europe.
The group, which included Gambians and Senegalese, told the IOM they
had been abandoned by their driver.
They waited for him for six days before giving up and walking for two
more days in the desert.
They were finally spotted near a well by local authorities who called
the IOM, the official said.
Rescue operations — and grisly discoveries — have become routine in
the Sahara.
“Hundreds of west African migrants have been found dead, or have
disappeared or been rescued in dire straits in Niger’s part of the Sahara,” a group of Agadez officials said in a recent report.