More than 300 internally displaced persons have died of hunger and thirst along the way as they fled violence from Tonga area in Upper Nile to Sudan’s South Kordofan State, a local non-governmental organization said.

Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Sunday, Philip Lam Nyawela, Executive Director of the Nile Organization for Peace and Development Organization, said they had recorded at least 315 deaths of internally displaced people who fled from Tonga to South Kordofan State after the recent clashes between government and opposition forces in mid-April.

“What happened in Tonga is very bad, there were atrocities against civilians. And according to the eyewitness who arrived safely to Kosti of White Nile State, the death toll could reach 315, most of whom are women and children,” said Lam.

Lam further said the conflict-displaced families who managed to arrive in the Sudanese territory safely reported that they saw many dead bodies presumably from thirst and hunger along their way.

The executive director also pointed out that many displaced people are reported missing and their whereabouts remain unknown.

Nyawela called on the international community to come to the aid of the conflict-affected people in different parts of South Sudan, while calling for independent investigations into the Tonga incident.

Last week, the Information Minister of Fashoda State Morris Orach said the death toll of Tonga incident was about 50 people.