Authorities reported that a father and daughter who were trekking in a remote national park in Utah in temperatures reaching triple digits passed away after desperately texting 911 emergency dispatchers to report that they were lost and had run out of water. The San Juan County, Utah, Sheriff’s Office on Monday recognized Albino Herrera Espinoza, 52, and his daughter Beatriz Herrera, 23, as the two hikers who were discovered dead on Friday night in Canyonlands National Park close to the town of Moab.
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According to the Santa Clara-Ivins Public Safety Department, three other hikers were discovered in southwest Utah’s Snow Canyon State Park suffering from heat-related ailments one day after the tragedy, including a 30-year-old woman who passed away. Around six o’clock on Friday evening, local time, the sheriff’s office began looking for Herera Espinoza and his daughter after receiving word from the National Park Service (NPS) that the hikers had texted the Utah Department of Public Safety from a 911 number, asking for assistance.
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According to a statement issued by the sheriff’s office on Monday, “the NPS report stated that the pair of hikers were a father and daughter who had become lost while hiking the Syncline Loop Trail.” “Dispatch informed NPS of emergency 911 texts from the hikers, reporting that they were lost and out of water.” Authorities added that when the father and daughter texted 911 dispatchers in a state of desperation, the local temperature was above 100 degrees.
According to the sheriff’s office, Herrera Espinoza and his daughter were trekking close to the park’s Island in the Sky Mesa. According to the National Park Service, the Syncline Loop hike is “the most challenging trail in the Island in the Sky district.” The NPS website notes that “most park rescues occur on this trail,” but it also cautions that the 8-mile loop track requires hikers to adjust to a 1,500-foot elevation shift, negotiate steep switchbacks, and clamber through boulder fields. The father and daughter were discovered dead in the Upheaval Dome, according to the sheriff’s office.
