One person died and two others were injured during a floating trip down the Colorado River inside Grand Canyon National Park, authorities said on Tuesday.
A commercial river trip requested aid at about 11 a.m. on Monday after it spotted a motorized raft overturned near the Kwagunt Rapid, which has a 12-foot drop and roughly a medium difficulty.
During the trip, a cold front moved in with strong wind and snow on the canyon’s rim, preventing a rescue helicopter from responding immediately. Rescue crews in boats set out on Monday and reached the site of the accident Tuesday morning, Grand Canyon spokeswoman Kaitlyn Thomas wrote in a press release.
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An unidentified 60-year-old woman died from the incident, and two others had shoulder injuries. Details about how the woman died were not immediately available due to an investigation, led by the National Park Service in coordination with the Coconino County Medical Examiner’s Office.
All three were evacuated on Tuesday afternoon.
“We’ll definitely be looking at the circumstances that led up to the accident and any circumstances surrounding the fatality,” Thomas said in an ABC News interview.
The woman’s family, who was with her on the rafting trip, declined to release where she was from.
Her death marks the third this year within Grand Canyon National Park, with the other fatalities being probable suicides.
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The Washington Examiner contacted Thomas but did not immediately receive a response.
