Some 42 migrants have been found dead in the back of a truck in Tanzania.
Tanzania's Deputy Interior Minister Pereira Silima said they had come from
Ethiopia and died from asphyxiation. Local officials said more than 120
people had been packed into the truck, which was headed for Malawi.
Tanzanian and Malawi have become key staging posts for people fleeing
drought and conflict in Somalia and Ethiopia, and trying to reach South
Africa.
'Dumped The Dead'
Mr Silima said that according to survivor accounts, the 127 migrants had
started off from Ethiopia in two trucks. They passed through Kenya's
capital, Nairobi, and onto the Tanzania town of Arusha where they were
transferred into one lorry, he told the BBC's Network Africa programme.
The driver noticed there were problems in the central Dodoma region and
stopped the vehicle. "When he found out that at least 41 were dead, he
released the survivors and dumped the dead in the bush," the minister said.
The container truck then drove off and the authorities are trying to trace
it and the driver, he said. Nearby villagers helped the survivors, one of
whom later died. Mr Silima said when the migrants were well enough, they
would be taken to court and their embassy would be contacted. Last week, at
least 47 East African migrants drowned when their boat capsized on Lake
Malawi after sailing from Tanzania.
