Authorities in Zambia said on Sunday that 27 presumed Ethiopian migrants’ remains had been found in a location to the north of Lusaka, the country’s capital.
According to Zambian authorities, the 27 migrants are thought to have passed away from “hunger and weariness” after being “dumped.” The hospital received one additional patient who was still alive.
According to police investigations, the bodies, which were “all males aged between 20 and 38, were dumped… in Ngwerere area (of Lusaka) by unknown persons,” according to a statement from police spokesperson Danny Mwale.
They are all thought to be Ethiopian migrants, Mwale said. The dead were taken to the mortuary for identification and post-mortems while the lone survivor was discovered alive in the early morning and sent to a Lusaka hospital for treatment.
Authorities reported that the 27 remains were “dumped” and later discovered by locals. They were “suspected to have died of starvation and weariness,” according to police.
Zambia serves as a transit country for people traveling from East Africa to South Africa, which has the continent’s second-largest economy.
In October, 30 alleged migrants from Ethiopia were discovered dead in Malawi.