Bodies of 42 African migrants found by roadside in Tanzania
The dead bodies of at least 42 Ethiopian and Somali migrants have been discovered on a busy forest highway in Tanzania.
Tanzania’s Deputy Interior Minister Pereira Silima told the BBC that 127 migrants set off for Malawi from Ethiopia in two trucks, but after passing through the Kenyan capital of Nairobi and reaching the northern Tanzanian town of Arusha were transferred into one container truck.
In the central region of Dodoma region, after the driver discovered that more than 40 of the migrants had suffocated, he freed the survivors, dumped the dead bodies on the side of the road, and drove off.
According to the Associated Press, the survivors are receiving medical treatment and being questioned by Tanzanian police forces. The driver remains missing.
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In January, 20 Somali migrants suffered a similar fate to Wednesday’s victims, with their bodies dumped on the road after they suffocated to death whilst being smuggled through Tanzania in a container truck, Reuters reported.
Both Tanzania and Malawi lie on a smuggling route used by people trying to escape fighting and drought in Somalia and Ethiopia and reach South Africa. Last week at least 47 African migrants drowned in Lake Malawi when their boat capsized after arriving from Tanzania.
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