23-year-old hiker plunges to his death in Grand Canyon, officials say
A 23-year-old Phoenix man died Tuesday after falling at Grand Canyon National Park, officials say.
Officials received a call Tuesday morning about a person dead above the Black Bridge on the South Kaibab Trail in the park. Park rangers found Jaiquan Carter, 23, according to the National Park Service.
Carter is believed to have been hiking the trail when he fell about 80 feet to his death, the park service said.
The incident is being investigated by the National Park Service and the Coconino County Medical Examiner’s Office in Arizona.
The hiker’s fatal fall is not the first death at the popular park this year.
In June, a 49-year-old woman died of heat exposure on the same South Kaibab Trail, ABC News reported.
A 59-year-old woman plummeted 100 feet to her death in July, McClatchy News reported. Visitors could be heard in a video screaming and crying as they reacted to her fall.
Seventeen people died at the Grand Canyon in 2018, and at least three died from falls in 2019, CBS News reported. About 6.4 million people visited the canyon in 2018.
This story was originally published December 16, 2020 at 8:19 AM.