23 among us died on way to Libya, says returnee

Areturnee from Libya has narrated how 23 people: 20 boys and three girls between 17 and 22 years, died in the desert on their way to Libya.

The returnee, Clifford Eze who hails from Edo State, said he left Nigeria in June this year en route Libya. He told Daily Trust the 23 teenagers died as a result of exhaustion, adding that he was one of the people who buried them in the desert.

Eze was among the fresh 258 stranded Nigerians evacuated from Libya by the International Oranization of Migration (IOM) in collaboration with the Federal Government.

The returnees were received by government representatives, including the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons, Nigeria Immigration Service, among others on Tuesday night.

The revelation by the returnee came barely two weeks after dead bodies of 26 Nigerian women believed to be illegal migrants were recovered from a Spanish warship in the Italian coast city of Salerno on November 5.

Eze told Daily Trust that he paid N700, 000 to facilitate his journey to Libya through the desert with the mission to cross over to Europe. “We passed through Kano to Niger, to Sudan, to Agadez and then to Libya. On our way, 23 young boys and girls died.”

He said he experienced too much bitterness to advise anyone to try such travel. “I am not encouraging anybody to leave Nigeria to go to Libya now. Even if it is wheel barrow, push it in Nigeria,” he said.