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IOM Rescues Migrants Stranded in Chadian Desert

An IOM rescue mission that departed Faya on Tuesday night following
reports that 67 migrants, including women and children, fleeing
Libya were stranded on the road to Zouraké with a broken
down truck and no water, has successfully returned to Faya with the
group.

According to IOM Operations Officer Craig Murphy, 21 women and
children were put on a passing truck and the remaining 46 migrants
travelled the 295 kms to Faya on the IOM truck. The group has now
been reunited and registered for onward travel with IOM to Abeche,
N'Djamena and Mao.

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Chadian Ahamat Adoum Issa, 38, who was stranded with the truck
for six days, was working for an oil company in a small Libyan town
near Benghazi. When he decided to flee Libya, his company owed him
six months of wages.

He described how the group eventually ran out of food and water
and talked about the plight of migrants in the Libyan town of
Gatroun, where many Chadians are waiting for transport back to
Chad.

"Most people have to wait for 15 days to a month before they can
get a truck to Chad. There is little food and the water there is
not good. If you drink, it causes stomach pain… some people
are dying," he said.

Asta Baraka, a resident of Faya who was travelling on the truck
with her husband and two-month old son, confirmed that many
Chadians had already left Gatroun, but there are still Chadians
there.

She described her relief on seeing the IOM team. "When we saw
the truck with food and water, we realized we were not going to
die," she told Murphy.

For more information please contact:

Qasim Sufi

IOM Chad

Tel: +235 22 5253 59/60 (Ext. 111)

Mobile: +235 62 90 0674

E-mail: "mailto:qsufi@iom.int">qsufi@iom.int