On Saturday, Emergency services in Kufra, southeastern Libya, announced that several Sudanese refugees were injured when their vehicle overturned while traveling through the desert.
According to the Emergency and Ambulance Service, three ambulances were dispatched to transport the victims of the crash to Martyr Atiya Al-Kasah Hospital. The accident involved a car overturning while carrying displaced Sudanese nationals in the desert outside Kufra.
The victims were identified as Hamid Khamis Marsal, who sustained a back injury; Abu Bakr Ahmed, a Sudanese national with a fractured skull; and Walid Saad, also Sudanese, who suffered a broken jaw. Doctors reported that all three remain under medical observation.
This accident underscores the growing humanitarian crisis along Libya’s southern frontier. Since the outbreak of Sudan’s civil war in April 2023, hundreds of thousands of Sudanese have crossed into Libya seeking safety, many using remote desert tracks controlled by smugglers. These routes are notorious for accidents, dehydration, and abuse, often turning an escape from war into a new ordeal.
Only days earlier, security forces in the Al-Wahat region reported rescuing a Sudanese family being held in inhumane conditions on the Kufra road. The family, including women and children, had reportedly been detained by traffickers before being freed in an operation by the General Investigations Department.
Aid agencies warn that Libya’s border towns, particularly Kufra, are struggling to cope with the influx. Local hospitals face shortages of medical staff, supplies, and equipment, making it increasingly difficult to handle both the needs of residents and the rising number of refugee emergencies.
Although most Sudanese see Libya only as a transit point on their way to Europe, the perilous journey often leaves them stranded in a country already burdened by its own instability.
