Death Valley tragedy four days after motorist was rescued

A STRANDED motorist rescued by a group of Hampshire teenagers in a US desert has died during what has been described as an "idiotic" attempt to recover his vehicle.

Robert Darmer collapsed with heat exhaustion after attempting to walk 20 miles across the infamous Death Valley, California - one of the hottest places on Earth.

Mr Darmer was desperately searching for water when he finally succumbed to temperatures of 115 degrees Fahrenheit.

He died four days after being saved by the Lepe-based League of Venturers (from near Southampton, England)who were making their annual expedition to the States.

The teenagers were on a training exercise in Death Valley when they stumbled across Mr Darmer, who had been marooned in the desert for a week and was almost out of water.

The 35-year-old was driven 80 miles to the nearest Ranger Station where he kissed the ground in relief at being saved.

After recovering from his ordeal he appears to have retained his belief in devine providence, but somehow suffered a catastrophic loss of memory and attempted to walk back to his VW Caravanette, which was stuck in a salt marsh in Saline Valley.

It just proves the old saying - "If at first you don't succeed, try, try ......"

Submitted on 08/22/2005

Submitted by: Karl Cleife
Reference: Southampton Echo - UK

Copyright © 2005 DarwinAwards.com

Kelly said:
Neutral: Other
I like this story but without some way to verify it, I don't feel I can accept it. Please resubmit with a link to the news source.

Jack said:
Definitely Keep: Darwin Award
A couple of minutes on Google allowed me to verify that this did happen much as reported. See http://www.death-valley.us/article1353.html for details.

Tracy said:
Definitely Keep: Darwin Award
Thanks for the link, Jack... saves me looking. Perfect DA - minutes from death, gets saved, manages to die the second go!

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