GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Sept. 10, 2024 (Gephardt Daily) — A boater has died in the Grand Canyon‘s fifth visitor fatality in less than three weeks.
On Tuesday, Sept. 10, park rangers, responding via helicopter, located a body in the Colorado River near river mile 63.5, the National Park Service said in a news release. Initial information suggests the body is that of a 71-year-old male who was reported missing Monday night.
On Monday, Sept. 9, at approximately 9:15 p.m., the Grand Canyon Regional Communications Center received a report of a missing boater in the area of Lower Nankoweap Camp (river mile 53.5) along the Colorado River, reads the press release..
The National Park Service and the Coconino County Medical Examiner are conducting an investigation into the incident.
The death is the second since Saturday and fifth since Aug. 22.
Saturday at approximately 5:30 a.m., the park was alerted to a fatality at Poncho’s Kitchen, near river mile 137 along the Colorado River.
“Park rangers responded to the scene and found the victim, Patrick Horton, 59, of Salida, Colorado. Horton was on the 10th day of a non-commercial river trip along the Colorado River and was discovered deceased by members of his party.”
On Aug. 28 a 60-year-old backpacker died during a multi-day hike near Thunder River Trail. That morning, National Park Service search and rescue personnel, responding via helicopter, located the deceased individual along a route connecting Lower Tapeats Camp and Deer Creek Camp, officials said. The backpacker, from North Carolina, was on a solo multi-day backpacking trip, according to the NPS.
On Aug. 25 an 80-year-old man drowned after his boat flipped in the Fossil Rapids area of the Colorado River. That same day the body of a 33-year-old Arizona woman was recovered who had been swept away three days earlier by flash flooding In Havasu Canyon.
