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According to preliminary police reports, these are Ethiopian migrants, between 26 Y 40 years, who possibly died of suffocation while traffickers were transporting them to South Africa.
Bodies of 26 migrants found in mass grave in Africa
Authorities of the Republic of Malawi found at least 26 bodies buried in a mass grave in the Mtangatanga Forest Reserve, located at 460 kilometers north of Lilongwe, the capital of the African nation, AP reported Thursday.
According to preliminary police reports, the cause of death may be suffocation, so it is presumed that they died while traffickers were transporting them in a van bound for South Africa. Based on the available evidence, Malawi Police spokesman Peter Kalaya stated that the remains found belonged to Ethiopian migrants, among 25 Y 40 years.
On the other hand, the commissioner of the Malawian district of Mzimba, Rodney Simwaka, announced that they are coordinating with the “Ministry of Health to bring a pathologist to perform the autopsy” and to have “an official version of the cause of death”.
A stretch of road that connects Malawi with Tanzania, known as the ‘Southern Route’, is used by groups that smuggle migrants from countries in the Horn of Africa, mainly Ethiopia and Somalia, who seek better job opportunities in the south of the continent, specifically South Africa .
In 2021, the Displacement Tracking Matrix of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) recorded approximately 58.850 irregular movements along the ‘Southern Route’, which represents around 9% of illicit displacement from the East African region, including the Horn of Africa.
