NIAMEY: Around 100 Libya-bound migrants, including women, have been rescued from the Sahara desert in Niger after being abandoned by their smugglers, a security source told AFP. The migrants are believed to have been hoping to travel on to Europe and were discovered by a military patrol several days ago, the source said on Tuesday.

“The migrants were subjected to terrible torture by their smugglers, before being abandoned without food or water,” reported the online newspaper Air Info, based in the remote town of Agadez, citing a security source. The migrants were saved close to the arid dusty town of Achegour, the paper said, a transit point for migrants seeking work in Libya or trying to reach the sea to sail to Europe.

It comes after at least 44 Libya-bound migrants, including women and babies, died of thirst in the Sahara desert two weeks ago after their vehicle broke down in scorching conditions. Temperatures in Agadez currently hover at around 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) but have hit almost 50 degrees Celsius in the past. Last year, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) recorded 335,000 migrants heading northwards out of Niger.—AFP