London, June 7: At least 49 people have died of dehydration after their truck broke down in the Sahara Desert in Niger.
According to the BBC, the passengers were stranded after the vehicle became inoperable in a remote stretch of the desert. They spent several days trying to repair the truck but were unable to get it running again.
The truck had departed from the city of Harouba in Mali, located more than 300 kilometers from the Niger border. The passengers were returning from a Muslim religious festival when the vehicle broke down.
They became trapped in an area of the desert known for extreme temperatures, where access to water and other essential supplies is extremely limited. As the days passed, the passengers exhausted their remaining water supply.
Only two people survived the ordeal. They managed to cross part of the desert and reach the nearby town of Assamaka, where they alerted local authorities.
When rescue teams arrived at the scene, they found dozens of bodies scattered beneath and around the truck.
The victims were later buried in a mass grave by rescue workers.
On their way back, rescuers discovered another broken-down truck carrying more than 60 passengers. The travellers had been stranded in the desert for three days after the truck’s battery failed.
Rescue teams provided water to the exhausted passengers, many of whom were suffering from severe dehydration. After helping repair the vehicle, the rescuers enabled them to continue their journey safely. ( BBC)
People’s News Monitoring Service
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