Man dies after vehicle gets stranded in Death Valley, attempts trek across blistering salt flats

Fox ^ | August 26, 2026 | Andrea Margolis

[xxqqzz]

A French tourist died this month after becoming stranded in California's Death Valley National Park amid sweltering temperatures.

The National Park Service (NPS) announced the death of Pierre Michel Formosa, 68, on Aug. 21.

Park officials said Formosa and his travel companion, also a French national, were driving on West Side Road along the Badwater Basin on Aug. 17 when their vehicle "became stuck in mud."

"With no other vehicles in the area, the men began walking across the salt flats toward Badwater Road to seek assistance," park officials said.

Temperatures were as high as 116°F — and eventually Formosa was "unable to continue."

The Death Valley National Park welcome sign A 68-year-old tourist died recently during a visit to California's Death Valley National Park in August. (Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Formosa's companion continued on and eventually was helped by a passing motorist — who alerted officials at the Furnace Creek Visitor Center at around 2 p.m.

NPS rangers soon began searching for Formosa, along with an Inyo County sheriff’s deputy.

A California Highway Patrol helicopter later joined the search and found Formosa later that afternoon, about 1.5 miles from Badwater Road.

"He was pronounced dead at the scene," NPS officials said.

[xxqqzz]

There was a German family who died in Death Valley in the 1990s. They apparently took a short cut and their 2-wheel drive van got 3 flat tires. Apparently, it attracts foreign tourists who don't fully understand the dangers.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

You’d think the name “Death Valley” would clue people in.

[Big Red Badger]

116* ,
At that Temperature minutes
Not Hours is What You Got.
RIP

[Disambiguator]

I drove across Hwy 380 in NM a few years back, through the aptly named “Jornada del Muerto.”

I would hate to get stuck out there.

[Don W]

I love the desert, but some folks don’t believe that it is utterly merciless and indifferent to any needs other than its own.

It declares, in no uncertain terms, that if you mess up you WILL die.

[Repeal The 17th]

Different source from a few weeks ago...
-
Stranded in Death Valley amid 116-degree heat, French tourist dies
ktla ^ | 08/23/2026 | Josh DuBose
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4392889/posts

[Governor Dinwiddie]

These two French "friends" should have booked a B&B room in the Castro District instead. Some chaps, oil cloth dusters, a jar of Vicks Vapo Rub, and those two poofters would have had something to write home about.

[dagunk]

I go out into the country in Nevada and I say to the environment, “You’ll actually kill me if I screw up, won’t you”? And the land replies, “Yep.”
— Talisker

[TigersEye]

Names like Badwater Road and Furnace Creek are also thought provoking ... one would think.

[Big Red Badger]

That Honestly a Great Way to Square Off on What May quickly Change into a Deadly situation.
Flash Floods around Here have Taken Several folks.

[Skid289]

I’ve been to Death Valley many many times on group motorcycle trips. Never once even considered going anywhere off main roads. Go out there off the beaten track and death in the valley is a real possibility. They f***ed with the duck and got the bill.

[xp38]

Years ago actually decades driving into the park there was a small booth with a bunch of small booklets titled something like Death Valley driving tips. Free to anyone who wanted one. The cover had a drawing of a convertible with 4 skeletons in it driving along. It got your attention.

[Southside_Chicago_Republican]

A guy I used to work with died in the Arizona desert. He somehow got isolated and stranded and when he and his dog went looking for help, that was it.

[eyedigress]

I worked the deserts for many years. The Sonoran from Gila Bend to Ajo to Yuma. Sometimes it was very hot and dry. Reaching the 120 mark.

I don’t understand people who go into these areas and do not understand the risk.

[Inyo-Mono]

I don’t understand people who go into these areas and do not understand the risk.

I live about 20 miles from the northern border of Death Valley and about a decade ago, I met a young British couple with a less than year old baby. They asked me about taking a back way into to Death Valley that looks like a shortcut on a map. I explained to them that it was mostly a rugged dirt road and that their rental car, a sedan, would likely get stuck and they could die in the heat. They were very insistent that they were going to do it anyway when I told them that maybe their skeletons would be found in the Fall. I think that changed their minds, but I'm not sure of that.

[dagunk]

That Honestly a Great Way to Square Off on What May quickly Change into a Deadly situation.
Flash Floods around Here have Taken Several folks.

***********************************

40+ ears in deserts.

Yeah there are a few hazards out there.

[21twelve]

I think the “Welcome” sign confuses them.

[Falconspeed]

Pierre Michel Formosa, 68, rest in peace. 116º. Brutal.

[SnuffaBolshevik]

There was a German family who died in Death Valley in the 1990s.

If you search for "Death Valley Germans" there is an extensive story about them. Their remains were eventually found 13 years later(!) by a private citizen who had taken an interest in their fate.

[xxqqzz]

I don’t think they have that kind of heat much in Europe or areas that are so isolated without nearby villages, etc. That may be partly why Europeans have trouble understanding the danger.