>> around you? >> yeah. one after the other. >> reporter: bess somehow managed to survive for 24 days in the desert but most of those who were with her they didn't. out of 27 people, only three women survived. we met her at a transit center that's run by the iom. she's waiting to return to nigeria. this is the gateway for migrants en route to europe. last year the eu pledged hundreds of millions of dollars to nyjer to crack down on the smuggling but what it's done is driven the operations underground. just about everyone lived off the migrant trade. this has been turned into a tinder box. and it's also about to become the site of 21st century warfare's most modern technology.