Arizona Ends Search for Gold-Seeking Hikers Lost in Superstition Mountains
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Arizona officials have called off a search for three hikers on a quest for a legendary lost gold mine in the Superstition Mountains after the men disappeared into the sweltering wilderness with little camping gear or water.
Curtis Meriworth, 67, Ardean Charles, 62, and Malcolm Meeks, 51, were last heard from on July 6 when they told family members they would return home to Utah in under four days, MyFoxPhoenix reported.
But two weeks after the men's departure, Sheriff Joe Arpaio officially suspended his department's search efforts, telling the press the men likely succumbed to the heat. Two of whom reportedly had medical conditions and were unprepared for conditions in the Arizona desert, where temperatures have soared above 110 degrees in July.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"They had one thing on their mind, and that was finding whatever they were looking for, and they didn't take into consideration the other factors," said Deputy Jesse Robinson with the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office Search & Rescue team.
The men were questing for the searching for the Lost Dutchman Gold Mine, which has been drawing in treasure hunters since the late 1800s, MyFoxPhoenix reported.
On July 11, the hikers' vehicle was found at a desert trailhead, where Maricopa County deputies and posse volunteers fanned out and covered 96 square miles by land and by air. An aircraft with thermal imaging equipment was also utilized in the search.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"We are the leading search and rescue agency in the state and are experience is leading us to believe that these men succumbed to the summer heat," Arpaio said. "However, we must consider all possibilities and that they could be alive and located somewhere other than the Superstition Mountains."