Bones found in Death Valley could be of missing German tourists

San Francisco - More bones found in California's Death Valley could be the remains of a family of four German tourists who vanished without a trace 13 years ago, police said Wednesday. Everything indicated that this was related to the missing tourists, Carma Roper, the police spokesperson of Inyo County, told the German Press Agency dpa.

Last month, hikers found skeletal remains and a German passport in a remote part of Death Valley National Park. More bones recovered over the weekend were handed over to the authorities, but identification could take weeks or months, Roper said, adding that investigations in the area would continue.

After the family failed to return home to Dresden, Germany, in 1996, relatives initiated a search.

Three months later, a minivan rented by the family was found abandoned in the valley's Anvil Spring Canyon with three flat tires, but there was no sign of the occupants. Tracks suggested the van had been driven four kilometers on the flat tires.

In the lonely desert valley, daytime temperatures can hit 50 degrees Celsius. Signs in the valley warn visitors to carry water, food and survival equipment.

Reports said the last sign of life from an architect, 34, his girlfriend, 28, and their sons aged 10 and 4 was a note dated July 23, 1996, in a guestbook at an abandoned mining village.