A thousand migrants rescued in the Niger desert
(VOVWORLD) - Rescue teams have saved a thousand African migrants abandoned by people smugglers in the Niger desert in recent months, the UN's International Office of Migration (IOM) reported Wednesday.
1,000 migrants have been rescued since April in northern Niger by IOM search and rescue operations. After a six-day journey across the Tenere desert, migrants gathered in Niger before crossing the Mediterranean to Europe, the IOM said, adding that it is running search and rescue operations under the MIRAA project, funded by the Netherlands.