A father and his daughter who went hiking through Canyonlands National Park in Utah died after they ran out of water as temperatures soared above 37 degrees Celsius.
Albino Herrera Espinoza, 52, and Beatriz Herrera, 23, of Green Bay, Wisc., were hiking the Syncline Loop Trail on Friday when they became lost. They texted 911 for help, and reported they stranded “and out of water,” the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office wrote in a release.
Police alerted the National Park Service, who immediately initiated a search for the missing hikers. Their bodies were found at around 6 p.m.
“When they were located, the two individuals were already deceased,” the National Park Service said.
Due to the “remote area and rugged terrain,” a helicopter team was brought in to recover the hikers’ bodies. Their remains were airlifted off the mountain early Saturday morning, police said.
At the time of their deaths, the air temperature in the park was over 100 F, upwards of 37 C, according to park officials.
“While temperatures remain high this summer, park visitors are advised to carry and drink plenty of water and avoid strenuous activity during midday heat,” the park service added.
The Syncline Loop Trail is marked as a “strenuous” hike by the National Park Service and it’s recommended that visitors bring at least four litres of water per person to complete the five- to seven-hour hike.
“This challenging trail follows the canyons around Upheaval Dome and requires navigating steep switchbacks, climbing and scrambling through boulder fields where trail markers are few and far apart,” the park service writes on its website, adding that the “most park rescues occur on this trail.”
The San Juan County Sheriff’s Office and the National Park Service continue to investigate the deaths. The bodies of Espinoza and Herrera were delivered to the state medical examiner.
“The San Juan County Sheriff’s Office thanks our allied partners for their assistance with this tragic incident and expresses our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Albino and Beatriz,” police wrote in their release.
As of Monday, there have been at least 59 heat-related deaths in the U.S. so far in 2024, with most of the deaths occurring in the western U.S., NBC reports.
Much of Western Canada is scorching under a heat wave that is breaking temperature records following a similar heat wave that hit eastern Canada in June.
Environment and Climate Change Canada scientists found that human-caused climate change was likely a factor driving the June heat wave.