ALGIERS: Fourteen people, including 12 Syrian migrants, have been found dead in Algeria’s southern desert province of Illizi, while five others remain missing, an official from the Syrian embassy in Algeria told AFP on Monday.

Search efforts to find the other five were still underway, said Bassem Farroukh, head of irregular migration at the Syrian embassy in Algeria.

“The victims came from Libya on Tuesday,” he added. “They were found dead on Saturday after they got lost in the desert.”

The migrants were found by the Search and Rescue Association, an NGO that specialises in rescuing people lost in the Algerian desert.

The association said it had identified the dead as two Algerians and 12 Syrians, including a 10-year-old and a 16-year-old.

Farroukh blamed Libyan authorities, whom he said expelled the migrants and “pushed them to flee towards Algeria.”

“We will see other Syrians leaving Libya in the same manner towards Algeria and I am afraid we must prepare ourselves for more disasters,” he said.