Thursday December 28, 2017
Bodies of 13 Somalis believed to have suffocated in the back of a container truck were discovered on Tuesday in a village in central Mozambique.
According to the authorities, the bodies were found dumped in a bush some 200 metres from a police station in Cheringoma in Sofala Province.
The Mozambican government said investigations are ongoing but did not give any details.
A government source quoted in the local O País newspaper said the Somalia nationals were suspected illegal immigrants travelling from the north to south of the country.
“They were probably illegal migrants who were being ferried in a container truck and may have died of suffocation.
“As soon as the driver realised they were dead, he threw them in the bush,” the source told O País.
The southern African country is a major transit route for migrants, used by human traffickers to ferry Somalis and Ethiopians to South Africa.
In May, Mozambique deported 24 Ethiopians found with fake visas.