In the Miklo graphic novel L'Oasis Perdue, Kamal El Melen was an egyptologist at Cairo University who specialised in the hsitory of the 18th Dynasty. He believed in the legend surrounding the demise of the heretic pharoah Akhnaton. The myth posited that at his death, the remaining troops of his army left the capital and headed into the desert for a certain lost oasis which was rumoured to harbour the "secret of life and death".
Some time before the events in the book, Kamal had found a papyrus scroll in the tomb of an important official of the Aton cult. The document mentioned the lost oasis and gave its location as beyond the Gilf Kebir plateau, near the Egyptian border with Sudan. Unfortunately for Kamal, a German team headed by Erich von Stalhein was on the same mission to find the lost oasis. They learnt about Kamal's discovery and kidnapped him. Kamal was locked up in the cellar of the German embassy and tortured to force him to reveal all that he knew about the oasis. Kamal managed to escape and met Biggles. Biggles was interested in his story as it coincided with instructions he had received from the British governor to investigate German activities near the Sudanese border.
Kamal subsequently searched for desert with Biggles and Bertie. Lost in a sandstorm and forced to land, they stumbled upon the oasis. Kamal thought this would make him famous but it actually resulted in his death. For details of how this came about, see here.