Little Rann of Kutch, India – India faces challenging heat waves each year, but few places endure conditions as searing as the country's western desert salt pans, where workers rely on simple techniques to survive almost unbearable temperatures.

Up to 50,000 workers in Gujarat spend eight months in the remote salt pans without electricity or healthcare, relying on a tanker to deliver drinking and washing water every 25 days.

They use shaded rest breaks, cloth-cooled water bottles and staggered hours to survive.

In Gujarat's Little Rann of Kutch, summer temperatures routinely cross 45 degrees Celcius, and can climb to 48 C.

The same dry heat that makes life punishing also makes the desert ideal for salt production — Gujarat produces roughly three-quarters of India's total salt output.

"We work in staggered timing ...…