Rangers Respond to Fatality on Bright Angel Trail

Date: November 10, 2009
Contact: Shannan Marcak, 928-638-7958

Grand Canyon, AZ. –At approximately 6:00 p.m. on Monday, November 9, the Grand Canyon Regional Communications Center (Grand Canyon’s 911 dispatch center) received a report of a man down on the Bright Angel Trail just below “mile-and-a-half house”.  The reporting party, family members who had hiked ahead of the man, said that when they found him he was not breathing, was unresponsive and his head was bleeding.

While rescue personnel were dispatched to the scene, the 911 operator provided family members with instructions on how to perform CPR (cardio-pulmonary resuscitation).  Upon arriving at the scene, park rescue personnel took over CPR, but were never able to revive the patient; and he was declared dead at the scene.

The man has been identified as 63 year old Joseph Mitchell of Clarkdale, Arizona.  His body was retrieved this morning by helicopter via long-line operation and transported to the South Rim helibase where it was transferred to the Coconino County Medical Examiner.

The National Park Service is conducting an investigation into the incident.

-NPS-

 

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