Car extracted below the Rim of the Grand Canyon National Park

Download the official press release:
Car Extracted Below the Rim of the Grand Canyon National Park (15.4kb PDF File)

 

Grand Canyon, Arizona, November 30, 2006 - At approximately 1:00 pm, a red Chrysler Crossfire was extracted from the canyon by a KMax heavy lift helicopter and the National Park Service Rangers.

This vehicle was located approximately 600 feet below the rim of the canyon on November 16, 2006 by a Grand Canyon Park flight crew in an area of the canyon known as the Abyss.

The Abyss is located west of Mohave Point, off of Hermit Road on the West Rim approximately four miles west of the Grand Canyon Village.

After the team was inserted to a Helispot, they traversed approximately half a mile to the location of the vehicle where it was lodged on a narrow ledge at the top of the Coconino Sandstone formation.

The helicopter delivered a sling load with the equipment needed to rig, strap and extract the vehicle. The car was then lifted and delivered to Mohave Point where it was loaded and transported on a Xanterra flatbed truck to the National Park Service impound facility.

Additional clean up of debris up to approximately 800 feet below the rim will continue on another day.

A two minute Windows Media video clip of the car extraction is available. With a dial-up connection, it is best to save the file to your hard drive before viewing. (right-click on the link and select "save target as" from the menu) Viewers with faster internet connections should be able to watch streaming video by directly clicking on the link.
Car Extraction Video (4.7MB WMV File)

 

 

A body that was located approximately 150 feet above the wreckage was removed and transferred to the Coconino County Medical Examiner’s Office in Flagstaff, Arizona on November 17, 2006. Identification of the body has not been released pending DNA testing and notification of family.

A complete investigation is being conducted by the National Park Service.

Contact(s): Maureen Oltrogge

Phone number: 928-638-7779

Date: November 30, 2006