Algerian TV reports that 16 people were killed after two pickup trucks collided in the south of the country. Among the victims were 13 Guineans, a Malian and two Algerians. Three people were also seriously injured.
A road accident on Monday (November 14) in Algeria claimed the lives of 16 people and left three people seriously injured. According to Algerian broadcaster Ennahar TV, the three injured are in a "critical condition."
Among the victims were 13 migrants from Guinea and one from Mali. Two Algerians were also believed to have died in the crash, according to Reuters and the English speaking online portal Arab News.
The crash reportedly took place on a highway between the towns of Reggane and Bordj Badji Mokhtar in the country’s southwest. This area is mostly desert.
Dangerous roads
Algeria has a relatively high rate of accidents, according to Arab News. In 2021 the country’s authorities recorded more than 7,000 traffic accidents which killed at least 2,643 people and left in excess of 11,000 injured, the news portal states.
The roads are considered to be some of the most dangerous in the region.
According to the UN migration agency IOM, Algeria has been a crossroads for migration for centuries. But as the conflict has worsened in Libya in the last 11 years, more and more migrants are choosing to travel via Algeria, Morocco or Tunisia in order to reach Europe instead of risking the journey through Libya.
Desert terrain
Most migrants arrive in Algeria by crossing its 1,500 kilometer border with Mali and Niger which runs through the Sahara Desert. In this area, with temperatures that can top 40 degrees in the day at some points of the year, it is difficult to survive, IOM states.
Fairly frequent reports of breakdowns or abandonment of migrants along the way often result in death. Migrants who have survived these journeys often speak about the horrors they saw along the way of skeletons and shallow graves in the sand of those who didn’t make it.