Mauro Prosperi is an Italian police officer and modern pentathlete who became famous after becoming lost in the Sahara Desert during an endurance event in 1994.
Prosperi, a keen endurance runner, took part in the 1994 Marathon des Sables (Marathon of the Sands) in Morocco. Part way through the 6-day 233 kilometre event a sandstorm caused Mauro Prosperi and his cousin James Duchkin to lose his way. He ended up disoriented and ran in the wrong direction, ultimately running several hundred kilometres into Algeria. After 36 hours he ran out of food and water. He survived by drinking his own urine and eating bats resident in an abandoned mosque and the occasional snake found in the desert.[1][2]
Not wishing to die a long drawn out death, Prosperi attempted to commit suicide in the mosque by slitting his wrists with a pen knife he had with him. The attempt failed - lack of water had caused Prosperi's blood to thicken and clotted the wound before he died. After nine days alone in the desert he was found by a nomadic family and taken to an Algerian military camp and from there to a hospital. He was 186 miles (299 km) off route, and had lost 18 kg in body weight.[1]
His story of survival was later covered in a National Geographic Channel documentary entitled Expeditions To The Edge: Sahara Nightmare.
Prosperi later entered the race again in 1998, but was halted by a severely stubbed toe.[3]