Libya’s Anti-Illegal Migration Authority announced the rescue of around 50 Sudanese refugees stranded deep in the Libyan desert, about 450 kilometers south of the city of Kufra, near the Sudanese border.
A relative of the survivors told Darfur24 that the group had set out from Hamrat Al-Sheikh in Sudan’s North Kordofan State in mid-July, but the drivers transporting them abandoned them in a remote desert area for more than three days before fleeing back to Sudan.
He said Libyan desert patrols later apprehended the drivers and forced them to return to the site where the families had been left. The group included women, infants, and elderly people, and the smugglers had used four vehicles — two Toyota Tundras and two Toyota Sequoias — for the smuggling operation.
According to the authority’s official Facebook page, its southeastern branch rescued the stranded families and children, who had been left in dire humanitarian conditions by smugglers in the desert. Field patrols located the group, provided emergency assistance, and transferred them to security outposts, where they were placed under direct protection pending legal and humanitarian procedures.
The authority added that several migrants who had abandoned the families were apprehended and forced to return under security supervision, noting that investigations remain ongoing.
