Man's death in Grand Canyon National Park is the 5th in less than a month
CBSN
An 80-year-old man died Sunday in the Grand Canyon after his boat flipped and dropped him into rapids along the Colorado River, park officials said. His death marked the fifth fatality recorded in the Arizona national park in less than one month.
Rangers received word from a tourist group traversing the river that an elderly man had fallen in because his boat turned over at a section of the waterway called Fossil Rapid, according to the National Park Service. The agency said members of the group reached out to the Grand Canyon Regional Communications Center at around 3:40 p.m. Sunday afternoon by way of a satellite phone call. At the time, they said attempts to perform CPR on the man were underway. Neither the people in that tour group, nor park rangers who traveled by helicopter to the scene, were able to revive the man, whose identity hasn't been shared with the public.
The National Park Service said Tuesday that it was investigating the circumstances around his death in coordination with the Coconino County Medical Examiner. CBS News contacted a spokesperson for Grand Canyon National Park for more information or comment but did not receive an immediate response.
