A camper fell 20 feet while on a river trip through the Grand Canyon, park rangers said.
Margaret Osswald, a 34-year-old from Salt Lake City, Utah, was near Ledges Camp on Monday, April 4, when she fell, according to the National Park Service. She was found unresponsive.
“Due to darkness, Grand Canyon National Park has requested an emergency helicopter operation from the Arizona Department of Public Safety (DPS),” park rangers said in an April 5 press release. “DPS arrived at the scene at Ledges Camp at approximately 8:30 p.m. and pronounced the person dead.”
Osswald had walked into the canyon to meet the other members of the river trip, which was on the sixth day.
The death is under investigation.
Last month, Mary Kelley, a 68-year-old from Steamboat Springs, Colorado, was found unresponsive after entering the Colorado River, the National Park Service said.
Members of her rowing group pulled her out of the water and began CPR, park rangers said.
“Park rangers were flown to the site by park helicopter and all CPR attempts were unsuccessful,” officials said in a March 25 press release. “Kelley was on day nine of a multi-day private boat trip.”
Park officials did not say what caused Kelley to become unresponsive in the water. The woman entered the water near Hance Rapid, which park officials called a “highly technical and powerful whitewater rapid.”
Many tourists make commercial river trips on the Colorado River, according to the National Park Service. Some travel for a day or half a day, while others can take up to 18 days.
Multiple people died on the Colorado River in 2021. According to McClatchy News, a 63-year-old died on the sixth day of a private boat trip in June.
In April 2021, a 60-year-old woman died in a boating accident when a commercial motorboat capsized over the river, officials said. Two others were also injured in the accident.
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