Kufra , May 22(Darfur 24)
Eleven Sudanese refugees died and 15 others were rescued on Thursday on the Libyan border after a vehicle transporting them from Sudan to the city of Kufra via Chad broke down, according to medical sources and eyewitnesses.
A video clip circulated on social media documenting the moment the victims were found. It shows a Libyan citizen lost in the desert, who came across the group in a deteriorating humanitarian condition after their vehicle broke down in the desert.
According to survivors’ testimonies, they were stranded for more than five days without water or food, resulting in the deaths of 11 people, including women, children, and the elderly. Others are in critical condition and require urgent medical intervention.
A source in the Emergency and Ambulance Service in Kufra confirmed to Darfur 24 that ambulance crews rushed to the scene to transport the injured and victims to the city’s Martyr Attiya Al-Kasheh Hospital for treatment and care.
Al-Fadil Al-Jili, a member of the Sudanese community in Kufra, expressed his deep regret over the accident, noting that the community has been warning refugees against taking desert roads, especially the western route linking Sudan to Chad and then Libya, due to the dangers it poses due to its rugged terrain, its distance from official roads, and the lack of security protection.
This incident comes amid a decline in trade and refugee transit across the border triangle between Sudan, Egypt, and Libya since the kidnapping of three Libyan citizens last April. This incident prompted Libyan authorities to tighten controls on border crossings, in response to popular pressure from the people of Kufra.
A Sudanese refugee residing in Kufra told Darfur 24 that refugee movement had been halted for about a month after several vehicles carrying dozens of refugees were seized as part of the implementation of the A security decision to monitor the border.
The decision included a ban on the entry of commercial trucks coming from Sudan into Kufra.
The most recent incident occurred on May 11, when a vehicle carrying more than 40 refugees, mostly women and children, broke down while crossing the desert from Chad into Libya. They were transported to Kufra for medical care.
According to data from the UNHCR in Libya, the number of Sudanese refugees who entered Libya by March had reached approximately 230,000, following the escalation of the armed conflict in Sudan since April 2023. The UNHCR noted that the Kufra crossing received between 300 and 400 refugees per day before the tightening of border controls.