Migrant children found dead in desert during heat wave

Six migrants from sub-Saharan Africa were found dead, possibly due to drought, in the middle of the desert in southern Tunisia, near the Algerian border, while temperatures are especially high during the northern hemisphere heat wave.

“Two women and four children were found dead on Wednesday night in the desert of Tozeur (south), two kilometers from the Algerian border,” a high-ranking local official told AFP.

The source added that a security patrol found a survivor who went missing in the Tozeur desert while searching for water for the rest of the group.

According to his account, the group, whose members were all Nigerians, left Algeria on foot for Tunisia.

An investigation was opened and the bodies of the migrants were transferred to Nafta Hospital, near Tozeur.

“They probably died from the drought, especially in the middle of this heat wave,” a local official said.

Mongi Slim, head of the Red Crescent in Zarzis (south), told AFP, without providing figures, that every year many migrants, especially from sub-Saharan Africa, arrive illegally in Tunisia by road. The goal is to reach Europe by sea.

Since the beginning of 2021, at least 866 migrants have died or disappeared while trying to cross the Mediterranean, according to the latest statistics from the International Organization for Migration (IOM, a United Nations agency).