More than 50 migrants have died this year in Panama’s Darien Gap
Al Jazeera
The death toll is higher than in previous years amid a surge in crossings of the treacherous jungle route.
More than 50 people have died since the start of 2021 while trying to cross the Panama jungle along a perilous migration route towards the United States, officials from the Central American country have said.
The figure is considerably higher than in previous years, when officials say an average of 20 to 30 bodies have been recovered in the Darien Gap, a 575,000-hectare (1.42 million-acre) stretch of the jungle on the border between Panama and Colombia that the United Nations has called one of the most dangerous routes in the world.
The number is all-but-assured to be below the actual death count for those who make the journey, according to officials.
