The unnamed 14-year-old girl was visiting the Glen Canyon National Recreational Area with her family from San Jose when she disappeared near the Horseshoe Bend overlook about 2 p.m. last Monday, the Coconino County Sheriff’s office said.
A California teen has died after falling about 700 feet from a popular overlook in Arizona that she was visiting with her family, officials said.
The unnamed 14-year-old girl was visiting the Glen Canyon National Recreational Area with her family from San Jose when she disappeared near the Horseshoe Bend overlook about 2 p.m. last Monday, the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office said.
Her relatives searched for her for about two hours before reporting her missing around 4 p.m.
Officials began searching for the teen, and eventually emergency responders aboard a helicopter with the Arizona Department of Public Safety Air Rescue spotted her body below the overlook. She had apparently fallen about 700 feet, authorities said.
Rescuers were able to recover the girl’s body the next day. She was transported to the Coconino County Medical Examiner’s Office in Flagstaff, police said.
It appeared the girl’s death was an accident, but the incident is still under investigation and is pending review by the medical examiner’s office, officials said.
The teen’s death comes seven months after Zachary Wallace, 33, fell 800 feet to his death from the same overlook.
Wallace’s brother told officials he saw his brother slip over the edge about 3:30 p.m. May 6. No foul play was suspected in the death of the Phoenix man, whose body was also removed from the canyon by a helicopter.
And in 2010, a tourist visiting from Greece fell to his death at the overlook. Charalampos Grammatoglou, 32, was standing on a ledge when it gave way in July 2010, according to reports at the time. He fell about 600 feet after members of his party shouted at him to get away from the edge. A helicopter was able to retrieve his body.
The National Park Service announced in October 2017 plans to start building rails along the view, which had seen a significant increase in tourism in recent years. About 1.5 million visitors traveled to the bend in 2017, while 2 million were expected in 2018. Improvements to the scenic destination began November 2017 and are expected to continue.
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