Libyan officials: 15 migrants found dead at the border with Sudan

CAIRO — Libyan authorities said on Saturday they found at least 15 migrants dead in the desert on the border with Sudan, the latest tragedy involving migrants seeking a better life in Europe via perilous journeys through the conflict-ridden nation.

The Department for Combating Irregular Migration in the southeastern town of Kufra said the migrants were on their way from Sudan to Libya when their vehicle broke down due to lack of fuel .

The agency said nine other migrants survived while two are still missing in the desert. There were women and children among the migrants, but the agency did not say how many. He also did not reveal the causes of death of the migrants, but said they did not have enough food and water.

He said the migrants were all Sudanese – from a country that has been in turmoil for years. The migrants probably tried to reach western Libya with the aim of boarding smugglers’ boats to Europe.

The agency posted images on Facebook showing bodies of allegedly dead migrants who were then burned in the desert.

The tragedy was the latest in the vast Libyan desert. In June, authorities in Kufra said they found the bodies of 20 migrants they said died of thirst in the desert after their vehicle broke down near the border with Chad.

Libya has become in recent years the main transit point for migrants fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East. The oil-rich country descended into chaos following a NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed longtime autocrat Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

In recent years, human traffickers have taken advantage of the chaos in Libya, smuggling migrants across the country’s long borders with six nations. Migrants are then crammed into ill-equipped dinghies and set off on risky sea voyages.