Horrified hikers scream after woman plunges to her death in Grand Canyon, video shows

Hikers on the Grand Canyon rim Friday screamed in horror and shouted “no” as a 59-year-old woman plummeted 100 feet to her death, a video shows.

Maria Andrea Salgado Lopez of Scottsdale, Arizona, had been hiking off-trail and taking photos near Mather Point when she fell at 12:35 p.m., Grand Canyon National Park rangers wrote in a release.

Salgado Lopez fell after stepping off the edge while taking photos with her family, rangers reported. Rescuers found her body 100 feet down from the rim.

“I saw people out in that area start to hug each other, trying to comfort each other and shield them from what they were seeing,” said Miriam Weiner, who shot video of the aftermath, KNXV reported. “So, that told me this is really bad.”

In the video, other visitors can be heard screaming, wailing and crying out “no” as they react to the fatal plunge.

Weiner said she and her daughter were visiting the Grand Canyon for the first time when they witnessed the accident, according to KNXV.

“It’s really sad to go out there and think you’re just going for a vacation and sightseeing, and you come back without your mom or your wife,” Weiner said, the station reported.

Seventeen people died at the Grand Canyon in 2018, and at least three died from falls in 2019, CBS News reported. About 6.4 million people visited the canyon in 2018.

On June 26, Catherine Houe, 49, of Daly City, California, died of heat-related illness while hiking in the Grand Canyon, The Arizona Republic reported.

The National Park Service and the Coconino County Medical Examiner’s Office are investigating the death of Salgado Lopez, park rangers wrote in the release.

This story was originally published July 9, 2020 at 11:06 AM with the headline "Horrified hikers scream after woman plunges to her death in Grand Canyon, video shows."