A group of eight illegal immigrants who were abandoned by their guides during a two-day trek across the border from Mexico were saved after they used their cell phone to call rescue services, the U.S. Border Patrol said.

Without food and water, the group was facing death in the parched desert of Tacna, Arizona.

After they called 911 for help early on Wednesday, rescuers dispatched helicopters and located the group shortly before dawn, the Yuma Sector of the U.S. Border Patrol said in a statement.

According to a Reuters report, last year more than 260 trekkers died in northern part of the desert, where summer temperatures reach highs of around 120 degrees F.