A man fell 4,000 feet to his death from a popular tourist attraction walkway in the Grand Canyon, according to authorities in Arizona.
The man, only identified as a 33-year-old male, was on the Skywalk at Grand Canyon West before he went over the edge, plunging into the canyon below, the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue said in a Facebook post.
On June 5, a technical rope rescue team responded to the Skywalk – a horseshoe-shaped glass bridge that extends 70 feet out over the canyon’s rim – after a report of someone going over the edge.
Two rope specialists “responded with (a) Kingman (Department of Public Safety) Ranger helicopter to the scene and determined the man was deceased,” the post read. The sheriff’s office said it is investigating the incident.
The man’s body was later transferred to the Hualapai Nation, a federally recognized Indian Tribe located in northwestern Arizona, the sheriff’s office reported.
Located outside of Grand Canyon National Park in the Grand Canyon West area, the Skywalk is managed by the Hualapai Tribe, according to the National Park Service. The Skywalk has seen more than 10 million visitors since 2007, according to the Grand Canyon West website.
The Mohave County Sheriff’s Office and the Hualapai Nation Police Department did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for a comment.
DenaBee3333 on June 19th, 2023 at 03:52 UTC »
Interesting that all the news stories are saying he “fell”. You can’t just fall off of the skywalk. You would have to climb over a wall that is around 4 feet tall, as I recall. Had to be suicide.
Also interesting that this happened on June 5 and is just now being reported in the news. Wonder why.
arod0291 on June 19th, 2023 at 02:48 UTC »
I was at the skywalk in November and I can confirm, there is no "falling". There's handrails and glass walls that are about 4ft tall. I asked our tour guide the morbid question about how often someone dies there and believe it or not, it happens about once a month.
EDIT: I want to add some more info since this blew up. The Skywalk is in the western rim of the grand canyon which is, if you read it, controlled by the Hualapai tribe. The Skywalk is the only section owned by the Hualapai that has safety precautions, i.e. the 4ft wall with railing. There is nothing surrounding the cliff face. No walls, no fence, no railing; you can as close or as far away as you want from the very edge. They do this to preserve the nature of the grand canyon unlike other areas controlled by the federal government where there is heavier security and barriers.
Agent7619 on June 18th, 2023 at 21:53 UTC »
Shit. That's ~10 seconds to think about what just happened before he hit.