ALBAWABA - At least 50 Sudanese migrants were killed due to heatstroke in Egypt's Aswan Governorate, where temperatures have risen as high as 49.6C, as a heatwave struck several parts of Egypt.
A medical source at Aswan University Hospital informed Mada Masr News on the condition of anonymity that 50 Sudanese citizens had died of sunstroke in a short amount of time, adding that "some of the bodies that arrived at the hospital were severely sunburnt and showed signs of dehydration".
The public morgue in Aswan has received a number of bodies belonging to Sudanese people who died of sunstroke during the last two days, according to MP Reham Abdel Nabi, who represents Aswan in the House of Representatives.
They're "discovered by chance, mostly by border guards and relevant authorities, and then transferred to the Aswan morgue," she stated.
Sudanese Consul in Aswan Abdel Qadir Abdullah issued a statement on Sunday evening expressing condolences, citing sunstroke and road accidents as reasons of death and identifying those murdered as unauthorized migrants transported into Egypt.
Other Sudanese citizens were taken to the hospital with sunstroke and were able to recover, the medical source told Mada Masr. Among them were reports of "dozens in the desert are without water" and "entire families perished due to the high temperatures and were left behind".
Several Sudanese nationals have been found dead over the last week, according to an inspector at an Aswan mining business who spoke to Mada Masr.
"Most of the deaths are due to hunger, thirst, and sunstroke, including men, women, children, and elderly individuals," the inspector stated, adding that "every day we find two or three vehicles on the road with the people inside dead".
The Egyptian Meteorological Authority reports that a heatwave began on Monday and lasted several days, with Aswan recording temperatures as high as 47C. The governorate had a temperature of 49.6C in the shade on Friday for the first time in 18 years, according to the administration.
