Thirst kills 27 Sudanese job-seekers lost in desert

KHARTOUM, Sudan (Reuters) -- Twenty-seven Sudanese youths hoping to find work in Libya died of thirst after losing their way in the Libyan desert, a newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The privately owned Akhbar al-Youm said the men had been traveling from Dongola in northern Sudan to Kufra in southeastern Libya when the driver of their vehicle got lost.

When their water supplies ran out, the driver set out alone to search for water. Libyan authorities found him, but by then all but one of the passengers had perished, the daily said.

Most of the 27 hailed from Gezira state in central Sudan.

The desert shared by Sudan and Libya has been a graveyard for many Sudanese lured by the prospect of work in their oil-rich north African neighbor. Thirteen died in June 1999 when their vehicle broke down and they ran out of water.

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