FILE - This Oct. 22, 2012, file photo, shows a view from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon National Park in Ariz. Photo credit: AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File.
GRAND CANYON, Ariz. — A 34-year-old Utah woman died at Grand Canyon Nation Park on Monday evening.
The national park was alerted of the situation at 6:30 p.m. Monday. The park learned that a member of a river trip was unresponsive and laying near the Colorado River around Ledges Camp.
34-year-old Margaret Osswald from Salt Lake City was identified as the person found unresponsive. Osswald was on the sixth day of a multi-day private boating trip, according to the park. She had hiked into the canyon in order to meet the trip at Phantom Ranch.
The park requested an emergency helicopter response from the Arizona Department of Public Safety, referred to as DPS, because of the darkness.
DPS arrived on the scene around 8:30 p.m. at which point it declared Osswald deceased.
The park reported that Osswald was at Ledges Camp when she fell about 20 feet. Members of her group attempted CPR after seeing that she was unresponsive.
The National Park Service and the Coconino County Medical Examiner will investigate Osswald’s death.
Osswald was an employee of the Utah Division of Water Quality. She was recently appointed as an assistant director of the division.