Police authorities in Zambia announced on Sunday the discovery of 28 bodies of foreign nationals by the roadside on the northern outskirts of the country’s capital of Lusaka.
Police spokesperson Danny Mwale suggested that the deceased persons likely suffocated to death while in transit, noting that one of the victims was found alive, but was unconscious and “gasping for air.”
The only survivor was immediately sent to a local hospital for medical help, while the rest of the bodies were transferred to the Zambia University Teaching Hospital mortuary.
“Our preliminary investigations indicate that a total number of 28 persons, all males aged between 20 and 38, were dumped in Meanwood Nkhosi along Chiminuka road in Ngwerere area by unknown people,” the police spokesperson said.
Law enforcement said they were alerted by locals, who found the bodies in the early hours of Sunday. Authorities also disclosed that the deceased migrants are believed to be of Ethiopian nationality, according to documents found in their possession during preliminary investigations.
“For now we cannot say what transpired because our investigations are still in going,” Mwale said. “We ask members of the public to be calm and not to panic and we ask the members of the public in Ngwerere area to assist us with information.”
Zambia, as well as neighboring Malawi, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique, are well-known transit points for migrants from the Horn of Africa, principally from Somalia and Ethiopia, seeking to reach South Africa.
In October, the Malawi Police Service discovered a mass grave in which the bodies of 25 killed migrants were buried.