According to Zambian authorities on Sunday, the bodies of 27 people, believed to be migrants from Ethiopia, were found dumped by the roadside in Ngwerere area north of Zambia’s capital Lusaka.
Deputy Public Relations Officer for the Zambia Police Service, Danny Mwale, told the BBC that the individuals were likely to have suffocated or died from suspected hunger and exhaustion while in transit.
Authorities have said preliminary police investigations showed the victims were all men aged between 20 and 38 and had been dumped along a road.
“Members of the public in Lusaka’s Ngwerere area discovered suspected dead bodies around 06:00am,” said a police statement.
“Police officers were alerted and quickly rushed to the scene where they found one gasping for life.”
Police said preliminary investigations indicated 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.
“All the 27 bodies have since been deposited in the University Teaching Hospitals mortuary awaiting formal identification and post-mortem.”
Police and other security wings have since instituted investigations into the matter, said Zambian authorities.
IOL