A 70-year-old French tourist who went missing in northeastern Chad has been found dead “after a fall,” according to Abakar Rozi Teguil, Chad’s minister of tourism and culture.
The man, reportedly from Dijon, had been missing since Wednesday while visiting the Guelta de Bachikele, a Saharan oasis in the Ennedi Massif mountains. He was part of a group attending the International Festival of Saharan Cultures in the city of Amdjarass, near the Sudanese border.
Authorities said the tourist set off with a friend, also French, without a guide to explore the area. They departed early on Wednesday “without prior authorisation” and “outside the elished supervision arrangements,” according to Chad’s tourism ministry.
Search and rescue teams, using motorcycles, jeeps, camels, drones, and an army plane, located the man’s body at the foot of a mountain, with an empty water bottle beside him. A first hiker from the group was found earlier, reporting that he had become lost after trying to dissuade his companion from continuing the trek.
The victim’s body is awaiting formal documentation by the prosecutor before evacuation to N’Djamena, Chad’s capital, the minister said.
The group of about 50 tourists had been on a trip organised by a French travel agency and a cultural association to coincide with the open-air desert festival in Amdjarass, which features concerts and performances by artists from Chad, Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mauritania.
The tragedy highlights the risks of unsupervised travel in remote desert areas and has prompted renewed calls for tourists to follow safety guidelines and stay with official guides when exploring challenging terrain.
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