US Couple Stranded In Desert Airlifted After Running Out Of Water

A couple who were abandoned in the middle of the Californian desert were found and rescued by Riverside County Sheriff's Office. While hiking in the Southern California region south of Joshua Tree National Park, authorities reported that they came across some endearing photos of a man covering his dehydrated girlfriend to shield her from the sun, as per Fox News.

According to an official statement from the Riverside County Sheriff's Office, the man called 911 to report that his girlfriend had become weak and dehydrated. Authorities sent a helicopter team to help the couple on June 9. The pair were huddled together in a dry creek bed when officers arrived in the Painted Canyon region, they said.

A video was shared by the official Riverside County Sheriff's Office Aviation Unit on Instagram. The short clip shows the helicopter moving above the couple lying on the ground. The man was seen trying to protect his girlfriend from the sun. The man and woman were then individually lifted into the helicopter to escape the intense heat of southern California. The department said that "because of her severe condition, an aeromedical helicopter was dispatched to Rescue 9's landing zone to fly the patient to a hospital." The man was sent to a local hospital by ambulance.

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As per the outlet, Cpl. Pilot Andy Rasmussen from the Aviation team said, "People don't pack enough water. They don't bring enough supplies with them. They end up getting 5 or 6 miles into a hike and can't get back."

"It's in the triple digits now. Yesterday, I believe we got to about 112 degrees. It's going to be that way from here on out in the summer," he added.

"If you're out hiking, and you start to feel thirst, you start to feel tired, in probably 10 minutes you can be in a bad situation," Cpl. Rasmussen continued.

One of the hottest places in California is the southern desert. According to the National Weather Service, weather stations close to the Painted Canyon area recorded highs on June 9 that ranged from 100 to 105 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8 to 40.6 degrees Celsius).