Driver survives crash over canyon rim
Date: April 26, 2011
Contact: Maureen Oltrogge, 928-638-7779

Grand Canyon, Ariz. – On Monday, April 25, 2011, at approximately 7:45 pm, a visitor reported finding an injured man in the roadway on Desert View Drive near Twin Overlooks, located on the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park. The injured man told the visitor that he had accidently driven his vehicle over the canyon rim. The visitor called the Grand Canyon Regional Communications Center and reported the accident. Responding park rangers found the reporting party along with the driver of the vehicle near Twin Overlooks. The 21-year-old male driver told park rangers that he had self-extricated, climbed up to the rim and flagged down a passing motorist.

The driver was treated at the scene and then transported to the South Rim helibase where he refused transport by a waiting air ambulance. He was transported by ground ambulance to the Flagstaff Medical Center in Flagstaff, AZ for non-life threatening injuries.

Park rangers located the vehicle this morning approximately 200 feet below the rim, lodged against a tree. A plan is being developed to remove the vehicle in the near future.

An investigation is being conducted by the National Park Service. No further details are available at this time.

( Cartoon credit: Gary Larson, from his strip "The Far Side" )



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/27/2011 03:57PM by szalkowski.

Seems like a number of folks attracted to the air space beyond the edge of the rim.