Nearly 50 people die of thirst in Sahara desert after lorry breaks down

At least 49 people have died of thirst in a remote part of the Sahara desert in northern Niger after the truck carrying them broke down, authorities say.

The group were returning from Mali, where they had attended celebrations for the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha, when they ran out of water, stranded more than 80 km (50 miles) west of Assamaka, a major border crossing point between Niger and Algeria.

"The travellers found themselves trapped in the heart of a hostile environment where extreme temperatures and lack of supply points make survival extremely difficult," said the governor of Agadez.

Only two survived, trekking across the desert to Assamaka, where they alerted authorities.

"This is something we have been working against, for years," Chehuo Azizou, the head of a local NGO, told the BBC.

"We have been sensitising drivers, travellers, and any person involved immigration activities, about the risk of crossing the desert. This recent incident is not unusual. Generally, we witness such cases on the route heading to Libya or Algeria".

In this latest case, the lorry had departed from the Malian town of Telhandek but veered away from its intended route, the Agadez governor's statement said.

The driver and passengers made repeated attempts to repair the vehicle over several days, but their efforts ultimately proved unsuccessful.