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I think this is a case where emotions over take judgment. The fact is that there were plenty of poor choices made in this whole tragedy. To focus solely on those made by the rescuers is unfair to all involved.

The Kims made the choice to travel across the mountains without a full tank of gas. In fact they had so little that this is what prevented them from turning around. By the time they decided they needed to, they discovered they didn't have enough gas. According to OSP, Mrs. Kim said they stopped twice to remove rocks in their path, instead of determining that this wasn't the best route. They also drove by at least TWO signs saying that this road was impassable in the winter due to snow. And it was snowing while they were driving.

I don't know why they chose to continue on this obviously dangerous road. But it made sense to them. I assume that the rescuers also made choices that made sense at the time. Now it's pretty clear they weren't the best. There were mistakes made all around in this tragedy.

They had quite of bit of gas. They ran the heater on gas for almost three days. To make it as far as they did in those conditions driving and then to stop and be able to run the heater for three days...how can you say they didn't have enough gas?