What started as a journey home from a festival ended in tragedy in the unforgiving Sahara.

Nearly 50 people lost their lives to thirst after their truck broke down in the desert heat cbinews.tv reports.

In a heartbreaking incident, at least 49 people have died of thirst in a remote stretch of the Sahara desert in northern Niger. Authorities say their truck broke down, leaving them stranded without water.

The group had been travelling back from Mali, where they’d gone for a Muslim festival. They were stuck more than 80 km west of Assamaka, a key border crossing between Niger and Algeria. Only two people made it out alive, trekking through the desert to Assamaka to raise the alarm.

cbinews.tv reports that the lorry had set off from the Malian town of Telhandek but went off its intended route. The governor’s statement said the driver and passengers spent days trying to fix the vehicle, but nothing worked.

Rescue teams sent by local authorities later buried the victims in mass graves. But the ordeal did not end there.

On their way back, the same team stumbled upon another broken down lorry. More than 60 people had been stranded for three days after a battery failed. That vehicle had left the Malian town of Harouba, over 300 km from the Niger border.

cbinews.tv reports that Nigerien troops in the rescue team handed out water to the exhausted and distressed travellers and helped get the lorry running again so they could continue safely.

The Niger desert is still a major route for migrants from West Africa trying to reach Europe, despite the huge risks. The governor noted that this tragedy highlights just how vulnerable young people are when they take on cross border journeys, often through unstable areas, simply to survive or find better living conditions.

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