FRESNO, Calif. (AP) – A search is under way in Yosemite National Park for as many as three people who may have been swept over the 317-foot-high Vernal Fall on the Merced River in eastern California.
The path to the top of Vernal Falls, Mist Trail, a three-mile trek with a 1,000-foot rise in elevation, is one of the most popular hikes in the park.
At the top a guardrail separates visitors from the treacherous water, and signs in multiple languages warn visitors of the danger created by slippery boulders.
According to Jake Bibee, a witness to the horrific accident, the three victims ignored those warning signs and crossed the gaurdrail in order to pose for photographs in front of the huge Yosemite waterfall .
“I saw [one] man’s eyes when he went over the falls. That was devastating,”
Immediately following the incident, Yosemite park rangers closed the Mist Trail, which is normal procedure during a search and rescue operation.
Published accounts say that 13 people have died by falling over Vernal Falls since records began being kept in the 1920s.
