Niger says 34 migrants, including 20 children, found deadAKINTUNDE AKINLEYE Migrants hold containers of water wrapped with wet sacks as they sit in the back of a truck at a local immigration transit centre in the desert town of Agadez, Niger. Thirty-four migrants, including 20 children, have been found dead in Niger's vast desert after being abandoned by their smuggler, the government of the West African nation said in a statement read on national television. IOM recorded 37 migrants died in the desert last year. Agadez in the landlocked country's arid north is a popular waystation for migrants attempting to traverse the Sahara Desert and reach Libya and eventually Europe. Of the adult migrants, nine were women and five were men.

Source: Stuff June 16, 2016 01:41 UTC