DHAKA: The bodies of 18 migrants who likely died of dehydration have been found in the Sahara desert in northern Niger.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said this, reports the Times of India on Monday.

The migrants, most of whom came from West African countries, are believed to have died on June 3 after a sandstorm threw them off their route from the northern town of Arlit to Algeria, said Giuseppe Loprete, the IOM's chief of mission in Niger.

They were part of a wave of migrants trying to reach Libya to board smugglers’ boats across the Mediterranean Sea into Europe.

“This tragedy highlights a feared but hitherto little-known danger too many migrants face long before they risk their lives at sea,” said William Lacy Swing, the IOM's director general.

“The Sahara may be as deadly as the Mediterranean for this wave. All too tragically many of these deaths go unreported,” Lacy added.

The dead included 17 men and one woman. They came from Niger, Mali, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Central African Republic, Liberia, Guinea and Algeria.

BDST: 0834 HRS, JUNE 15, 2015
BD/RS