DAKAR, Senegal — The governor of Niger's Agadez province confirms that 92 bodies have been recovered in the desert, after trucks ferrying migrants to Algeria broke down.

Col. Garba Makido told The Associated Press that the men, women, and children died of thirst after being stranded in the punishing heat last month.

Authorities were not alerted until a woman, who is among 21 known survivors, managed to walk to the city of Arlit, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of where the trucks broke down.

The next day, Makido said, a father who had been walking with his two young daughters also arrived, though the children perished just before reaching the city.

The dozens of migrants were being smuggled along a well-established trafficking route to North Africa.