International Organisation on Migration (IOM) has recovered the remains of a 21-year-old Nigerian woman migrant, on the Durance River along the dangerous route from Italy to France that crosses the Alps.
The Alps are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately 1,200 kilometres across eight Alpine countries of France, Switzerland and Italy.
The IOM, a United Nations Agency on Migration, in its May report on the Missing Migrants Project said the Nigerian woman was the second body recovered in the area in May.
This is coming as the agency said that its Missing Migrants Project had recorded 1,134 people who died or went missing while migrating in 2018.
“In Europe, the remains of a young migrant were found in a forest near Montgenèvre, on Italy – France route in May.
“The remains of a 21-year-old Nigerian woman were found on May 9th in the Durance river, along the dangerous route from Italy to France that crosses the Alps,†it stated.
According to the report, also on May 21st a young Moroccan man drowned in the Kolpa River, on the border between Croatia and Slovenia.
“His body was recovered by Slovenian authorities, and the circumstances of his death are being investigated. This is the seventh drowning recorded in this river since the beginning of 2018,†IOM stated.
It stated that there were several other additions to the Missing Migrants Project database since the last update.
“In Turkey, a migrant from Afghanistan died on 22 May in a vehicle accident in Bayramli, Van province, near the border with Greece.
“Approximately 70 other people were also travelling in the back of the truck and survived.
“In Mexico, a 42-year-old Guatemalan man was shot and killed in the Mexican state of Oaxaca.
“This happened on May 22nd, when the truck in which he was travelling with at least 100 other Central American migrants was ambushed by armed criminals,†it stated.
It stated that also in May, seven children from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) drowned in Lake Mweru, on the border between Zambia and the DRC.
“These lives were lost in this tragic and disastrous accident on 19 May.
“In addition, the Missing Migrants Project recorded two deaths on the US-Mexico border. A 37-year-old man from Nuevo León, Mexico was found dead on the border of Chihuahua and Texas last week.
“On 23 May, a woman was killed after crossing the Mexico-US border into Webb Country, Texas. Her identity remains unknown,†it stated. (NAN)
