A major tragedy occurred in the Sahara Desert, near the border between Niger, Algeria and Mali, where 49 Nigerian nationals died of dehydration after the truck they were traveling in broke down in an isolated area.
The vehicle they were in got stuck deep in the desert
Local authorities confirmed the incident on Thursday, June 4, stating that the victims were found more than 80 kilometers west of Assamaka.
According to information provided by officials, the group was returning from Mali, where it had attended the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha. The vehicle they were in would have deviated from the original route, remaining stuck deep in the desert, in an area considered one of the most hostile in the region, he writes the sun.
Lacking water, food and any possibility of communication, the passengers remained isolated for several days in extreme temperatures. Authorities reported that “the high temperatures and lack of supply points make any survival extremely difficult.”
Witnesses and survivors reported that passengers and the driver repeatedly tried to fix the vehicle, but without success. As the water reserves were depleted, one by one, people succumbed to dehydration.
The bodies of the victims were later discovered scattered in the area around the truck, some right under the vehicle.
The authorities eventually intervened, but for most of the passengers it was already too late. In total, 49 bodies were recovered, which were buried in mass graves, in difficult conditions specific to the desert area.
Only two survivors managed to escape from Saharan hell. They walked dozens of kilometers through the desert until they reached water and later to Assamaka, where they alerted the authorities, triggering search and rescue operations.
According to estimates, there were approximately 100 people in the truck, which raises the possibility that the final balance of the tragedy will be higher.
During the interventions, the authorities also discovered a second vehicle, located about 60 kilometers away, with more than 60 people on board, stuck for three days due to a battery failure.
The passengers of the second truck came from an isolated gold mining site located near the border with Mali. They too were saved at the border, avoiding a similar tragedy.
The Sahara remains one of the most dangerous migratory routes in the world, where thousands of people risk crossing in extreme conditions every year in an attempt to reach North Africa and then Europe. The lack of water, extreme temperatures and the absence of infrastructure mean that any technical incident can quickly become fatal.
According to the organization Alarm Phone Sahara, at least 35 migrants died in the Niger desert in 2025 alone. In 2013, another similar incident resulted in the deaths of 92 migrants, including 52 children, abandoned by traffickers after their vehicles broke down.
Despite the known risks, the route is still used by tens of thousands of people annually, including migrants expelled from Algeria to Niger.
