Lost and out of water, father and daughter found dead in Utah Park
A father and daughter hiking in triple-digit heat at a remote Utah national park died after sending a desperate text message to 911 emergency dispatchers that they were lost and had run out of water, authorities said.
Albino Herrera Espinoza, 52, and his 23-year-old daughter, Beatriz Herrera, both of Green Bay, Wisconsin, were identified by the San Juan County, Utah, Sheriff's Office on Monday as the two hikers found dead on Friday evening in Canyonlands National Park near the town of Moab.
A day after the tragedy, three other hikers were found suffering from heat-related illnesses in Snow Canyon State Park in southwest Utah, including a 30-year-old woman who died, according to the Santa Clara-Ivins Public Safety Department.
The sheriff's office launched a search for Herera Espinoza and his daughter around 6 p.m. local time on Friday after being notified by the National Park Service (NPS) that the Utah Department of Public Safety had received 911 text messages from the hikers requesting help.
"The report from the NPS stated that the pair of hikers were a father and daughter who had become lost while hiking the Syncline Loop Trail," according to a statement released Monday by the sheriff's office. "Dispatch informed NPS of emergency 911 texts from the hikers, reporting that they were lost and out of water."
The temperature in the area was over 100 degrees as the father and daughter sent their desperate text messages to 911 dispatchers, officials said.
The area Herrera Espinoza and his daughter were hiking in is near the park's Island in the Sky mesa, the sheriff's office said. The Syncline Loop Trail is described by the NPS as "the most challenging trail in the Island in the Sky district."
"Most park rescues occur on this trail," according to the NPS website, which warns that the 8-mile loop trail requires hikers to navigate steep switchbacks, scramble through boulder fields and adjust to a 1,500-foot elevation change.
The sheriff's office said the father and daughter were found dead in an area of the park known as the Upheaval Dome.
"Due to the remote area and rugged terrain, San Juan County Sheriff's Office coordinated with the Department of Public Safety helicopter team to extract the decedents in the early morning hours of July 13," the sheriff's office statement said.
The bodies were taken to the state Office of the Medical Examiner for examination.
"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 NPS advised in a statement it released Saturday announcing the deaths.
Meanwhile, the Santa Clara-Ivins Public Safety Department released a statement saying its officers responded on Saturday to a call of two people "suffering from a heat-related" incident at the Snow Canyon State Park near St. George, Utah. As first responders were treating the hikers, a passerby informed them of an unconscious hiker nearby, according to the public safety department's statement.
"The individual was identified as a 30-year-old female. First responders located the individual, and it was determined that the individual was deceased," the statement said.
As a historic U.S. heat wave continued on Tuesday, heat-related deaths in July have climbed to at least 31 in the West, according to a tabulation by ABC News of reports from law enforcement agencies.
The Santa Clara County, California, Office of the Medical Examiner-Coroner reported that 18 heat-related deaths occurred in the county in the first 10 days of July. The county – including its largest city, San Jose – has recorded a string of days in July during which the temperature rose to the high 90s and exceeded 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
Elsewhere in California, a motorcyclist died from heat exposure on July 6 in Death Valley National Park as the temperature there hit 127 degrees, according to park rangers. In Sacramento, a 58-year-old man also died on July 6 of heatstroke as the temperature soared to 113.
In other parts of the West, six suspected heart-related deaths have been reported in July in Oregon and three in Arizona, including a 4-month-old who experienced a heat-related emergency while on a boating trip in Lake Havasu as the temperature reached 120 degrees, according to the Mohave County Sheriff's Office. A 10-year-old boy also died in Arizona after falling ill on July 2 while hiking with his family in the South Mountain Park and Preserve in Phoenix, according to the Phoenix Police Department.
A 50-year-old hiker died on July 7 after being found unresponsive at the Grand Canyon, authorities said. Two other heat-related deaths occurred at the Grand Canyon in June.
