A 4-year-old girl has been killed in a fall from the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park.
Park officials say the unidentified girl fell about 450 feet off the rim about 11:30 this morning from a point just west of Mather Point, the most popular scenic view in the park.
The girl's father scrambled down the cliff below the rim to reach his daughter. When rescue crews arrived on scene, the father had already begun CPR; however, the girl was pronounced dead on scene shortly thereafter, the park reported.
The South Entrance Road along Mather Point was closed for a short time while a long-haul operation was conducted to remove the girl's body from the canyon. The father was then removed via a short haul operation due to an ankle injury sustained from scrambling over the edge.
National Park Service rangers are investigating the accident.
Comments
Steve's opening comments certainly inspire anyone with a clue about what life is like parenting children to respond. This little 4-year old yanked away from her parent in an act of willfulness, and it had the most tragic of consequences. Every one of us - especially anyone who is a parent - can look at this and grieve, knowing that it could have been any one of us. The poor parents are traumatized... who wouldn't be.
It could have just as easily happened when the child got out of a car, yanked away from her parent and ran in front of a moving vehicle. As much as we'd like to be, parents just aren't omnipotent or capable of being omnipresent. With HINDsight, I would say I wouldn't take a child that age, or one that had a propensity to be willful. Hmmm, with the latter requirement, I wouldn't take my 16 year olds either! SO, hindsight isn't very useful in this. We try to give our children life-enriching experiences. Sometimes even the most SAFE activities we could think of have tragic consequences.
Wishing peace for this family.
i think its the parks fault. they need to make sure that the park is secure not just for children, but for everyone. the grand canyon is a huge cliff and if anyone lost their balance or anything else they need a fence or something to keep them from falling off. i mean they shouldnt even allow people to be that close to the edge.
I just returned from a trip to the Grand Canyon. What a beautiful and breathtaking site. However could not help but notice the dozens of people standing too close to the edge to get that perfect picture or climbing over and beyond the railings. One person climbed all the way to the tip of a rock cliff with a drop of about 300 to 400 ft. while onlookers stood by and watched. It would not improve the situation by building a fence or a wall around the intire canyon , It would obstruct the view and certain individuals would climb over anyway. It is a National park not Disneyland, and certainly not upto the NPS to stand guard over every individual that decides to visit the park. Exteme caution should be taken when being involved in outdoor activities such as this, and even in our best efforts a tragedy can accur. Thoughts and prayers to Steve and his family.
Anyone who says that they "would not let go of a child's hand for one second" either does not have children or lives in a dream world. This is real life and the world is an imperfect place. My heart breaks for the parents of this poor kid. The memory of this event will haunt them forever. It's too bad that some idiots focus on how such a thing could only be an act of negligence. Wake up, idiots.
LOL! You're right Russell.... they probably haven't had kids.
I heard this story a long time ago and every once in a while it would drift out of the back of my mind because of just the sheer horror of it and what the parents must go through. I finally decided to try to verify the story and I googled child fell down grand canyon and this story came right up. I was very disaapointed that this wasn't another urban legend.
We and our kids need a lot of prayers just for them to make it through childhood. I had a young girl child once and we were standing at the crosswalk waiting for the light to turn green when she looses her footing and begins tottering toward the street as a couple cars were approaching. I had to grab her by the hair to make sure she didn't stumble into the street.
That seems extreme to me but anyone with kids knows how this is! A child restraint leash is good but I don't even think taking a child up to the GC is such a good idea.
I have to say, this verifies my cynicism when I toured the South rim once. The place was crawling with urban brats of all kinds who were clueless about being in the outdoors. Kids running rampant, women hiking trails in high heels. It was a ridiculous three ring circus. They were ALL like a bunch of children in need of supervision, not just the 4 year olds. They wer fairly rude and mannerless to boot. The sad thing is that the park system even let's ANY of them in in the first place! There should at least be a dress code! Those kind of people should stay in their city parks in Yonkers or whereever they come from and leave the great outdoors to people that know how to appreciate it.
Whoa, Rudee, that's pretty harsh. I agree that many groups of inner city kids (and even from other areas of the country) at times seem to be running like wild packs in the parks. But if they don't even get a chance to experience a park how can they learn to appreciate them?
I remember a trip to Yosemite when there was a large contingent of kids I suspected came from the LA area (or somewhere similar). They were loud and raucous into the night at Camp Curry and early the next morning. But the long hike to Half Dome wore them down. I figured they either came away with a great appreciation for that wonderful place, or determined never to set foot there again. But at least they had an opportunity to see it for themselves and make that decision.
I don't think we should deny anyone that opportunity.
"An adult has to hold onto a 4 year old at all the Grand Canyon overlooks. Constantly and tight."
I agree, but I also agree that accidents happen. Sometimes in the wink of an eye. When I was little my family and I visited the Grand Canyon. I was clearly told to stay back away from the edge. My sister and I were playing on a hill perhaps a hundred yards or so away from the edge while my mom and dad were taking photographs. My sister was chasing me and I ran down the hill. My momentum was such that I couldn't stop at the bottom and almost ran off the edge of the canyon. My dad grabbed me at the last instant. One second we were well back away from danger, no reason for my parents to be concerned, the next I had one leg hanging over the precipice and my arm nearly being ripped out of its socket by my dad. I am forever grateful that he was able to react so quickly.