Extreme heat appears to have killed a California man in Death Valley National Park Monday morning, park officials said Wednesday.
The man’s body was found around 10 a.m. Monday by a maintenance worker who saw a car on the side of the road with two flat tires, the National Park Service (NPS) said in a statement.
The sedan had two flat tires but did not crash, he said. The air conditioning was not working and the driver’s window was down, suggesting it was not working when the man was driving, according to the agency.
The mark still does not exceed that of 134 established on July 10, 1913
“Initial investigation suggests that a heat-related illness may have caused the driver to run off the road,” the park service said.
The high temperature the day before was 126°F while the low temperature overnight was 98°F, the NPS said in the statement.
Death Valley is one of the hottest places on Earth.
The highest recorded temperature on Earth was at Furnace Creek in Death Valley in 1913, at 134 degrees, according to the Archive of World Weather and Climate Extremes of the World Meteorological Organization.
This story first appeared on Telemundo 52’s sister station, NBCLA. Click here to read this story in English.
