Each year about 12 deaths take place in the Grand Canyon. The reasons for these deaths vary from natural causes, medical problems, suicide, heat, drowning, and dehydration. 2-3 deaths per year are just from falling off the rim.
The average amount of deaths has decreased from the 1980’s. Of 55 people about 39 of them were men! One day 8 guys were jumping from rock to rock and trying to take cool pictures. This included a 38 year old father from Texas who was trying to scare his daughter by falling off. He actually fell down 400ft and plummeted to his death.
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A family was stranded on Christmas Eve at the Grand Canyon when their car become stuck in the snow. 46 year old mother, Karen Klein, was a marathon runner. Their GPS led them down a side track, which caused their car to get stuck. There was no cell signal and her husband was recovering from a broken back, she decided to hike to the nearest main road to find help.
After 11 hours of hiking, she took shelter underneath an evergreen tree. She stated, "I was afraid to fall asleep because in my mind if you fall asleep, you freeze to death." In order to stay warm, she rocked back and forth and would keep walking ever so often. Her shoe had now fillen up with snow so she was walking in her sock. In order to keep moving, she ate snow to keep hydrated and ate twigs from pine trees. Doctors do not recommend eating snow because it lowers body temperature, which can result to hypothermia. Eventually, she stumbled upon an old abandoned shed which was previously used by park rangers, and passed out inside. In the meantime, her husband was worried and walked 15 miles down a road where he finally managed to find signal. He then called 911 and the park rangers tracked the car and his wife. It was truly "a Christmas Miracle" that all 3 family members managed to survive. Surprisingly, hours after the family was found, a massive snowstorm struck. If they hadn't been found in time then it would have been impossible to locate them. In the 1950’s, flights would usually go over the Grand Canyon just to show passengers the spectacular view. I would love to see that now! Unfortunately, on June 30, 1956 two planes that were flying from LA to Chicago, both requested to go into the Grand Canyons airspace. The planes collided directly over the Canyon, killing all passengers on board.
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AuthorNitika Thakur is currently 22 years old and living in Toronto, Ontario. She has won many awards for literature and is continuing to do so. She plans on writing books in the future and is currently working for the Toronto Star. Archives
January 2017
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