<h3><br />''</h3>The International Organization for Migration, IOM has said that nearly 20 thousand migrants have been rescued from the Sahara desert in Niger over the past three years.<br />''<br />'' The intergovernmental organization said that on June 15 alone it rescued 406 migrants from 14 West African countries including seven women and four children. <br />''<br />''The migrants walked for hours under the scorching desert sun with no water. The UN organisation said the most recent rescues had mainly included people from Ivory Coast, Guinea-Conakry and Mali.<br />''<br />'' The latest operation was IOM's 189th humanitarian mission into Niger's Tenere desert, the most remote desert in the Sahara. The vast plain of sand spans an area larger than Japan. <br />''<br />''The flow of migrants, often heading for Libya with the ultimate aim of reaching Europe, has lessened considerably since a 2017 peak. The IOM said, trucks carrying migrants frequently breakdown in the desert or become lost, with smugglers sometimes abandoning people to their fates. A representative of the organization said, no one knows exactly how many migrants have died often due to hunger or thirst, attempting to cross the Sahara.<br />''<br />