By Roxana Navarro
07 Oct 2024, 10:33 PM EDT
A person died over the weekend after suffering an accident in Zion National Park, which is almost 4 hours away from Salt Lake City, when he was canyoning and fell 200 feet, park authorities said.
Zion National Park is located in southwest Utah, between the counties of Washington, Iron and Kane, it is one of the most visited natural tourist places in the state at all times of the year, but it has also been the scene of several accidents.
Zion officials said they received an emergency call that a 40-year-old man had fallen about 200 feet near the Heaps Canyon exit.
“I was canyoning with three other people. Following their permitted itinerary,” the rangers told FOX 13 news.
They teamed up to locate the hiker
The Zion National Park search and rescue team and Washington County Sheriff’s Office deputies met for an emergency plan. They began the search and managed to locate him, but the place where he was did not make it easy for the rescuers to help him and they requested a LifeFlight helicopter.
The rescuers placed the victim in the helicopter that landed at the Watchman camp, to place him in another ship of the Department of State Security and transfer him to a hospital, but they confirmed that during the journey the victim died.
“Our thoughts and deepest condolences are with family and friends during this unimaginably difficult time,” Zion National Park Superintendent Jeff Bradybaugh said in a statement.
The three companions were rescued safely
Authorities did not share the identity of the victim or whether any of the other three hikers were injured, as they remained at the scene for several hours until they were rescued.
The superintendent told FOX 13 that two hikers were hoisted to safety by the DPS helicopter crew at noon Sunday.
The third person rappelled down the canyon with the help of the park’s search and rescue team and arrived safely on the ground until the afternoon.
What is canyoning?
Also known as canyoning, it is an adventure sport that mainly consists of descending canyons. The objective is to progress along the beds of streams, ravines and canyons with varying water flow.
Sometimes it will be necessary to descend dry ravines, while in others it will be necessary to avoid areas with a lot of water. This sport combines several disciplines such as caving and mountaineering.
In addition, it is a sport that combines several techniques ranging from walking, rappelling or zip-lining.
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