Grand Canyon News Release
August 27, 2024
Fatality on the Colorado River at Fossil Rapid
GRAND CANYON, AZ.—On Sunday, August 25, at approximately 3:40 p.m., Grand Canyon National Park was alerted to an emergency via a satellite phone call from a commercial river trip near Fossil Rapid (river mile 126) on the Colorado River.
The Grand Canyon Regional Communications Center received a report that CPR was in progress on an 80-year-old male who had entered the river after his boat flipped at Fossil Rapid. Despite the efforts of the group and park rangers flown in by helicopter, all resuscitation attempts were unsuccessful. The National Park Service and Coconino County Medical Examiner are investigating the incident. No further information is available at this time.
From Tom Martin on FB: One would like to learn how not to do this right? This press release by the Park doesn't help that whatsoever. Was this person wearing a dry suit? Was it a do-it-yourself trip? Was it a commercial trip? If it was a commercial trip what was the name of the company? How did the boat flip? Did they hit the shelf on the right? Did they go sideways over the pourover in the middle at the top? Was it a paddle boat? Accidents happen on the river and nobody seems to be willing to talk about them so that we can learn what not to do.
