Man falls to death at Grand Canyon viewing platform
A man has plunged to his death at a tourist attraction that millions flocks to each year. Eerily, many people have died or vanished here.
A man has fallen to his death at the most treacherous national park in America.
An unidentified 33-year-old man went over the edge at the Grand Canyon Skywalk attraction on June 5, plunging over 1219 metres toward the Colorado River below, local radio station KNAU reported.
Rescue teams including rope specialists and helicopters responded at about 9am, but the man was found dead below, according to the Mojave County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue, the NY Post reported.
His body was brought to the Hualapai Nation, which operates the overlook, a 3 metre wide, horseshoe-shaped glass bridge that extends 21 metres out over the rim of the canyon.
It was unclear if the man fell from the Skywalk bridge itself or the edge of the attraction.
The sheriff’s office shared a phone number for the US National Suicide Prevention Lifeline in a Facebook post, that said an investigation is ongoing.
To enter the Skywalk, visitors must store personal belongings like mobile phones and backpacks, which may explain why the man was not immediately identified.
The Grand Canyon is the deadliest national park in America, topping the charts with missing persons, deaths and suicides.
At least 56 people have been reported missing from the Arizona park from 2018 through February, and at least six people were found dead, according to records obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request.
One of them was Kenneth Reece, a 77-year-old from Tasmania. Grand Canyon National Park rangers said they received an emergency call to an area of the Colorado River near Deer Creek Falls but attempts to revive Kenneth were not successful.
Experts say the death toll at the vast park is likely higher than records reflect. Records show that roughly 1100 people went missing in the nation’s national parks in the past five years.
This story originally appeared on the NY Post and was republished with permission.
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