LAS VEGAS (AP) - A coroner's spokeswoman says the 11-year-old boy who died after getting stranded with his mother for several days near California's Death Valley perished from dehydration and heat exposure.
San Bernardino County coroner's spokeswoman Sandy Fatland says the death of Carlos Sanchez of Las Vegas has been ruled accidental.
The boy died Aug. 5, one day before rescuers found him and his mother in a remote desert area about 20 miles east of Trona, Calif. The Jeep Cherokee was stuck up to its axles in sand.
The boy's mother, 28-year-old Alicia Sanchez, and the family dog survived.
It was the third heat-related death this year in an area where temperatures commonly run above 120 degrees.
The average daytime August temperature in Death Valley is about 113.