Elderly woman latest to fall to death at Grand Canyon this year

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Elderly woman latest to fall to death at Grand Canyon this year

An elderly woman plummeted to her death in the Grand Canyon this week — the fifth person to die inside the national park this year.

Grand Canyon National Park rangers responded to a call for help just after 1 p.m. Tuesday west of Pipe Creek Vista, local station 12 News reported.

But before rescuers could get to the woman, she fell — and rangers found her body about 200 feet below the rim, a spokesperson told the station.

The body of the woman – whose name has not been released pending family notification – was recovered by the park’s helicopter and rescue team, according to the report. Her death is being considered an accident, the second such fall in the park this year.

On April 3, a 67-year-old man fell over the canyon’s rim east of Yavapai Geology Museum, authorities said. His body was found about 400 feet below the rim, marking the first over-the-edge death at the site this year.

And outside the national park, a tourist from Macau, China, stumbled and fell to his death while attempting to snap a photo at Grand Canyon West’s Eagle Point — close to the Skywalk at the Hualapai Reservation — on March 28.

Two days earlier, another visitor died near the South Rim inside the national park, authorities said. The circumstances of that death remain under investigation, but it was not a fall, officials said.

In total, 17 people died in the park last year, officials said.

Most deaths inside the park are heat-related, Canyon National Park spokeswoman Vanessa Ceja told NBC.

Source: nypost.com