Two men who tried to cross the harsh west Australian desert without proper equipment died just 9km from a water source after their car broke down, it was reported yesterday.
The area is so remote, their bodies were not discovered for a fortnight.
The men, aged 21 and 40 and believed to be an uncle and nephew, had been ill-prepared for their journey and had not informed anyone of their travel plans, resulting in no immediate search and rescue effort, police said.
The bodies were found by a stationhand on April 8 on the Talawana Track, part of the Canning Stock Route, on the edge of the Gibson Desert in Western Australia state.
Their remains were only retrieved on Monday because of the time it took the stationhand to reach somewhere where he could report the find.
The men, who were found next to their broken down Land Rover, are thought to have died from from exposure after running out of water. Their dog was also found dead beside them.
They had been dead for up to two weeks before they were found, police spokesman Inspector George Putland said.
The men left the Pilbara town of Newman on March 28.
They are understood to have taken little water with them and to have been traveling in a run-down vehicle which was not suited to the harsh conditions of the remote area.
"All indications are that they were ill-prepared, ill-informed and didn't notify any agencies what their intended travel was," Senior Sergeant Geoff Stewart told the West Australian newspaper.
"No one knew they were missing -- simple as that -- and people really do underestimate the state that we live in, especially out there," he said.
"They were only 9km from a fully operational water bore which was on the same track they were on but further from where they were. They didn't know that because they hadn't been there."
Temperatures in the desert had reached more than 40oC and there was little traffic because the area was coming out of the wet season, he added.
"The indications are that the vehicle they used was not equipped enough," he said.
"We have since found out their intended destination was further north but they would not have had enough fuel or water to traverse the type of desert areas out there."
The 2,000km Canning Stock Route, which crosses the Great Sandy Desert, the Little Sandy Desert and swathes of the Gibson Desert, is described as the longest and most remote stock route in the world.
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