CNN
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Zambia’s police service says it is investigating the deaths of 27 men, all believed to be Ethiopian citizens, The bodies of those found on Sunday were “discarded” by the roadside near the capital, Lusaka.
Police spokesman Danny Mwale said in an interview. statement that a total of 28 victims were found abandoned along Chiminuka Road in the Ngwerere area of Lusaka.
Mwale said only one of the men – all between the ages of 20 and 38 – survived.
“Among 28 people, one was found breathing,” the police statement said, adding that 27 bodies had been moved to the Lusaka morgue “pending official identification and autopsy. deadbody”.
Police said the sole survivor was taken to hospital for treatment.
Ethiopians are increasingly taking desperate measures to escape Africa’s second most populous country, which has come under control. civil war for the past two years.
Some Ethiopians were lured with promises of job opportunities in South Africa but ended up being held in deplorable conditions, according to the report. immigration officials are quoted by the Lusaka Times.
The latest discovery comes less than two months after police in neighboring Malawi find a mass grave contains the remains of 25 Ethiopians in the northern Mzimba district of Malawi.
Malawi police said at the time that four other bodies of Ethiopians were found “in a state of decomposition” a day later, near the mass grave in Mzimba.
Just like Malawi, becoming more and more a popular route for smuggling syndicatesZambia has been described as both “a country of transit and destination” for illegal migrants from the Horn of Africa crossing the southern African country with the aim of reaching South Africa.
In July, Zambian immigration officials intercepted more than 50 Ethiopians believed to have been smuggled into the country en route to South Africa.
