A French couple who died after being overcome with the desert heat while hiking in New Mexico may have made the ultimate sacrifice to save their 9-year-old son.
Officials there say the French tourists gave the boy — who is much smaller and required less water — two sips for every sip they took themselves, The Associated Press reports. The sheriff said that because of that action the boy was fairly well hydrated when they found him, though his parents had died.
The temperature was slightly higher than 100 degrees that day at White Sands National Monument's Alkali Flat trail, a four-mile loop that people are warned not to hike during the hottest part of the day. People who do hike it are told to drink about a gallon of water each, per day, because of the extreme heat and complete lack of shade on the trail.
The family reportedly set out on the trail about 1 p.m. with two 20-ounce water bottles. About a mile and a half in, the 51-year-old mother turned around to go back to the car, but later collapsed, CNN reported. The boy and his 43-year-old father unknowingly continued down the trail before the father also succumbed to the heat. The boy was found later in the evening.
