According to a National Park Service news release, the 42-year-old Belgian tourist was taking a short walk Saturday in the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes in 123-degree heat when he either broke or lost his flip-flops, putting his feet into direct contact with the desert ground. The result: third-degree burns.

“The skin was melted off his foot,” said Death Valley National Park Service Ranger Gia Ponce. “The ground can be much hotter — 170, 180 [degrees]. Sometimes up into the 200 range.”

Unable to get out on his own and in extreme pain, the man and his family recruited other park visitors to help; together, the group carried him to the sand dunes parking lot, where park rangers assessed his injuries.

Though they wanted a helicopter to fly him out, helicopters can’t generate enough lift to fly in the heat-thinned air over the hottest parts of Death Valley, officials said. So park rangers summoned an ambulance that took him to higher ground, where it was a cooler 109 degrees and he could then be flown out.

  • shaman1093@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    7
    ·
    3 months ago

    I’m one of those special kinds of idiot where I pride myself on my ability to traverse any terrain in my thongs (flip flops).

    • ours@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      3 months ago

      The kinds of things they do and the places they go in thongs in South-East Asia. It’s humbling.