Second over-the-edge death in Grand Canyon

Arizona: Another visitor to Grand Canyon National Park has died after falling over the edge of the South Rim, authorities said Tuesday.

A 70-year-old woman fell about 200 feet (61 meters) over the rim, the second over-the-edge death this month within the confines of the park, according to Grand Canyon officials.

The woman had been walking about 200 to 300 feet (61 to 91 meters) off a trail along the South Rim about a mile (1.6 kilometres) east of Mather Point. Park rangers got a call just after 1 pm that she needed help west of a popular overlook called Pipe Creek Vista.

“She fell before we could undertake a rescue,” said Grand Canyon spokesman John Quinley, adding that the circumstances of the call for help were unclear. Quinley said the woman fell between Mather Point and the starting point for the South Kaibab Trail, two well-known and highly visited places at the park’s more popular South Rim.

The park’s helicopter and rescue team recovered the body. The woman’s name was being withheld until her family can be notified. Park officials didn’t immediately release the woman’s hometown.

The National Park Service and the Coconino County Medical Examiner will investigate the death. Still being investigated are three other deaths since March 26, two of which occurred outside the park.

On April 3, a 67-year-old California man fatally fell 400 feet (122 meters) from the edge of the South Rim in Grand Canyon Village, near the Yavapai Geology Museum.

A tourist from Macau, China, fell to his death on March 28. The man was trying to take a photo at Grand Canyon West’s Eagle Point — close to the Skywalk located on the Hualapai Reservation outside the park — when he stumbled and fell. The body of a Japanese tourist was found March 26 in a wooded area south of Grand Canyon Village, away from the rim.

Only one person — an Illinois man — fell to his death in the park in 2018 after he climbed over the railing at Mather Point and fell some 500 feet (152 meters). Park officials said about 12 people die each year within the park. The deaths can be attributed to everything from accidental falls to heat, as well as drownings during rafting trips on the Colorado River.

Grand Canyon National Park, established 100 years ago, is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the U.S., drawing nearly 6.4 million visitors last year. Grand Canyon West, on the Hualapai reservation, gets about 1 million visitors annually.