DEADLLY DESERT HEAT

Even some of the people living near the desert do not know how deadly it can be.

I remember when the heat killed two Riverside Sheriff’s deputies. They had driven down a remote desert canyon road in the Palm Springs area when their patrol car got stuck in the sand. The location inside the canyon prevented police radio dispatchers from receiving any calls for help they may have made. Instead of waiting by their car, they decided to hike out of the canyon. One made it only a short distance before he collapsed and the other officer only made it a little further before he died. They might have survived had they stayed by the patrol car because an aircraft search would have been started when dispatchers could no longer contact the two.

The two tourists would have been doomed even if they had remained by their car. It they did not tell anyone of the specific route they were taken, and they probably didn’t, no one would have started a search for them.

TWO TOURISTS KILLED BY HEAT STROKE AFTER GETTING OUT OF CAR TO GO FOR HELP IN CALIFORNIA DESERT
By Wil Longbottom

Mail Online
August 25, 2011

A Dutch music promoter and his German girlfriend died from heat stroke after apparently getting out of their car in the California desert to go for help.

Augustinus Van Hove, 44, and Helena Nuellet, 38, drove into Joshua Tree National Park before noon on Monday and took a remote, dirt road to head towards Arizona, according to police.

Nearly seven hours later, a couple visiting the park found Mr Van Hove's body on the edge of Black Eagle Mine Road.

Sheriff's deputies later found Ms Neullet's body around a mile away from her boyfriend, who was the director of 013 - a popular concert venue in the Netherlands.

The black Dodge Charger they were renting was found stranded around five miles away on the same road.

Temperatures during the day in the park topped 41 Celsius.

The road had signs warning drivers that it should only be for four-wheel-drive vehicles because they may run into soft sand, park spokesman Joe Zarki said.

He said it was possible the couple was trying to walk for help.

While an autopsy hasn't been completed, Riverside County Sheriff's Captain Raymond Gregory said evidence indicated the couple 'both succumbed due to exposure to the elements'.

Mr Zarki said: 'It doesn't take long to go from being in trouble to being in a life-threatening situation.

'Heat exhaustion or heat stroke could happen very quickly, you brain and body malfunctions seriously.'

Joshua Tree National Park sprawls over more than 1,200 square miles of the rugged Colorado and Mojave deserts. It attracts around 1.4million visitors a year.

Mr Zarki said many Europeans come to the park during the summer months, usually as part of a tour of U.S. national parks.

'You can anticipate that many of these folks don't have experience travelling in desert environments, it's possible they weren't fully prepared for the kind of conditions that you can get out here,' he said.

The park has brochures in several languages providing safety tips on travelling in the desert. Mr Zarki said heat-related emergencies rarely occured in the park.