Boy, 9, Saved By Mother's Camera After His Parents Die In New Mexico Desert Hike
Boy, 9, Saved By Camera After Both His Parents Die In Desert Hike
Sara C Nelson— The Huffington Post UK/ Associated Press
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A nine-year-old boy has been saved after a hike in the New Mexico desert claimed the lives of both his parents.
The boy, who has been named by the media as Enzo, was holidaying with his parents when the tragedy occurred on Friday.
Rangers at the White Sands National Monuments found the mother dead first and after checking her camera, realised she had been with two further people.
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The family were hiking in the dunes at White Sands National Monument in New Mexico
Her son was found alongside the dead body of her husband around an hour later. He was dehydrated but conscious.
Otero County Sheriff Benny House identified the couple as David Steiner, 42, and his wife, Ornella Steiner, 51. They were tourists from the small town of Bourgogne, near the city of Reims, France.
House added that the couple had probably saved their son's life by giving him two sips of water for each one they took before the supply ran out.
"That may be why he fared so well, is he was a lot smaller and probably had twice as much water," House said. "He was well hydrated, compared to the other two."
The couple appears to have died of heat-related causes, House said. An autopsy to determine the official cause of death was pending, according to the state medical investigator's office.
The family had two 20-ounce water bottles when they set out on the hike along the national monument's Alkali Flat trail at about 1 p.m., House said. The trail is known for crystalline-white sand dunes and ends at the edge of the Alkali Flat, an ancient dry lake bed.
Survival Myths That Could KILL You!
MYTH: Use a solar still to get drinking water in the desert(01 of10)
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“The solar still thing is one of those myths that gets perpetuated in the literature and on reality shows,” says Nester. To build a solar still, you dig a hole in the ground, place a container in the middle, cover the hole with clear plastic and weight the plastic in the middle so that condensation drips into the container. “It’s a sexy idea,” he says. “That’ll work if you’re in a place like Maine or Florida or Costa Rica or Seattle where there’s water in the ground. That won’t work in the desert.”Photo Credit: USDA Agricultural Research Service Click Here to see ALL the Survival Myths That Could KILL You!
REALITY: You’ll sweat more than you get(02 of10)
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Nester likes to demonstrate to his students at Ancient Pathways just how useless a solar still is in the desert. “We set these up in our classes in a wash or in a canyon where there’s been rain in recent weeks,” he says. They dig a hole that’s three feet deep, fill it with succulents and other non-toxic plants that will respirate and speed up condensation, and cover it. “After the whole process of digging it and setting it up—you have to wait 24 hours, by the way—you may have half a liter of water if you’re lucky. But if you think back to the day before, you burned three gallons of sweat building it. It’s called the desert for a reason.” (For good advice on finding water in the desert, click here.)Photo Credit: Shutterstock
MYTH: Drinking your own urine will save you in the desert(03 of10)
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Gandhi did it. Bear Grylls does it. It sounds logical enough: When there is no water to be found, you can drink your own pee. Your body will just re-filter the bad stuff and extract the usable water, or so the logic goes. After all, when would resorting to this otherwise verboten act be more necessary than in the desert when you’re dying of thirst?Photo Credit: Discovery Communications LLC
REALITY: It can push your body over the edge(04 of10)
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You shouldn’t try to quench your thirst with urine for the same reason you’re dehydrated: heat. Nester explains: “The problem with drinking urine—we hear about it with border crossers—there becomes a tipping point with your body’s ability to thermoregulate. You’re on the cusp of heat exhaustion or heat stroke and you just added one more thing to a body already taxed by the heat. Your kidneys now have to process something, and it taxes your body’s cooling mechanism.” If you really want to make your urine useful, though, Nester has some advice: “You can pee on a bandana and wear it for evaporative cooling.”Photo Credit: Shutterstock
MYTH: Ration your water in the desert(05 of10)
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Seems obvious: you’re lost in the desert and all that remains of the water you brought in is half a water bottle’s worth. “This needs to last the next three days,” you think.Photo Credit: Shutterstock Click Here to see ALL the Survival Myths That Could KILL You!
MYTH: You can depend on your cellphone to save you (07 of10)
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“The biggest problem I see today is the sense that if I’m in trouble, I’ll get on my phone and someone will get me out of it,” says Smith. “People think they’re always one quick phone call away from being rescued, and because of that they take unnecessary risks.” Photo Credit: Shutterstock Click Here to see ALL the Survival Myths That Could KILL You!
REALITY: Technology is fickle; tell someone your plans(08 of10)
MYTH: You’re suddenly going to find yourself in a classic survival scenario(09 of10)
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This myth is the survival fantasy itself: You might suddenly find yourself in a situation—getting lost in the woods, running out of gas on a remote desert road, getting cut off from the world by a sudden event—where you’ll have to jump into survival mode and depend on arcane skills like fire by friction and building shelter.Photo Credit: Twentieth Century Fox/Dreamworks
REALITY: You probably got yourself there through a series of bad decisions(10 of10)
There is no vegetation or shade, and the National Park Service warns summertime visitors to hike only in the cool hours and carry at least a gallon of water per person.
The high temperature at the monument Tuesday was 101, according to the National Weather Service.
House said warning signs were posted in several languages, including French, at the trailhead.
The boy told deputies that his mother began feeling ill and complained of an injured knee about a mile and a half into the hike.
"So she made the decision that you guys go ahead and go on, I'm going to go back to the vehicle," House said. "She made it about a hundred yards before she went down."
He said the father and son were unaware that she was in trouble and continued on the trail, making it about 2,000 feet before the father collapsed.
Park rangers on a routine patrol found the family.
The sheriff's office contacted the French consulate in Los Angeles and officials there notified the family's relatives.