by Peter Mertz
GRAND CANYON, the United States, April 30 (Xinhua) -- National Park Service (NPS) officials in the United States have amped up warnings to a record number of visitors expected to see the Grand Canyon in the next few month after a spate of people falling to their deaths down the canyon's walls.
"Our security personnel are keeping an even closer eye on guests near the rim these days," David Leibowitz, a spokesman for Grand Canyon West (GCW), told Xinhua Monday.
The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided 277-mile (445.7-km) canyon near the Nevada and Utah borders in northern Arizona, carved by the Colorado River, and is up to 18 miles (28.9 km) wide and a mile (1.6 km) deep.
Millions of years of erosion through limestone and red sandstone have created this spectacular American national treasure that is visited by 6 million people a year.
The Grand Canyon West's Skywalk opened in 2007 and is 250 miles (402 km) by road from the Grand Canyon Village at the South Rim, the canyon's most visited spot.
The privately-owned Skywalk is a horseshoe-shaped cantilever bridge with a glass floor located above a side canyon that features a vertical drop of up to 800 feet (240 meters), according to United States Geological Survey (USGS) topographic maps.
On March 28, a Macao man in his fifties plummeted 1,000 feet (304 meters) to his death near the Skywalk after going off the marked trails to take a selfie.
"People underestimate the dangers of the Grand Canyon," said Marcus Vanata, a student at the nearby Prescott College who also worked as a part-time wilderness guide.
On March 26, another male body was discovered by authorities in a forested area near a hiking trail. On April 3, rangers also recovered a 67-year-old man's body 400 feet (122 meters) below the South Rim in the Grand Canyon Village.
The third fatality in a week concerned authorities, although statistics show three deaths are below the norm.
CANYON CASUALTIES
The Grand Canyon National Park celebrated its centennial anniversary on Feb. 26. Although it's known for its stunning landscape and rock formations, the geological masterpiece has also become the site of hundreds of deaths over that time.
At least 770 people have died at the park since the mid-1800s, CityLab reported.
In 2018, Grand Canyon National Park drew nearly 6.4 million guests, another annual record-breaking number. However, the popular tourist destination saw 17 fatalities last year.
The NPS posted immediate warnings after the last death in April, saying "Have a safe visit by staying on designated trails and walkways, always keeping a safe distance from the edge of the rim and staying behind railings and fences at overlooks."
The Chinese Consulate General in Los Angeles also issued an office notice earlier in April, urging Chinese tourists to follow signs installed by NPS throughout the park and private areas, and to steer clear of the edge since rim has no barrier between tourists and the edge.
"It is foolhardy to stray off-trail and bushwhack near the rim," said Vanata, who has led many expeditions into the canyon.
"It's actually life-threatening -- people must respect park officials who know the dangers."
Park officials stressed the infrequency that tourists errantly hike off the park's many marked trails and fall to their deaths. The NPS posted "Odds Death in the Grand Canyon are 1 in 400,000 Visitors" on its website this year.
Dying from heat or dehydration is more common than falling off the edge of the Grand Canyon, officials say.
The NPS and the Grand Canyon Skywalk (GCW) that is technically located outside park boundaries and privately owned by the Hualapai Indian tribe, are adding warning signs -- especially for some 80,000 plus Chinese tourists who are expected to return to the park this year.
"All of the Grand Canyon West observation areas have extensive signage -- in multiple languages including Mandarin -- warning guests about the potential for danger," Leibowitz told Xinhua, adding that the recent tragedy was his area's first fatality "in many years."
Most fatal falls happen in the areas that see heavy tourist traffic on the south and north rims of the canyon, statistics show.
According to the Arizona Daily Sun, since 2015, of the "55 who have accidentally fallen from the rim of the canyon, 39 were male and eight were "hopping from one rock to another or posing for pictures," the article said.
A 38-year-old father from Texas, pretending to fall to scare his daughter, then actually fell 400 feet to his death, the Sun reported. Gom Dang, 30, who was posing for a photo, lost his balance and fell 280 feet (85.3 meters) to his death in 2017, his family told KCCI News in Des Moines, Iowa.
