A man was fatally injured at the Grand Canyon Thursday after park officials said he tried to parachute from the national park’s south rim.
Park rangers were contacted Thursday morning about a visitor attempting to BASE jump around 7:30 a.m., park officials said in a statement. When park rangers arrived, they found the man dead, about 500 feet below the edge with a deployed parachute.
BASE jumping is a sport where participants jump from fixed objects with a parachute. The term BASE is an abbreviation for locations that participants jump from, such as buildings, aerials, spans and terrestrial peaks.
The sport is prohibited throughout the national park.
Officials believe the man died from the fall despite deploying his parachute at some point.
Rescue workers were unable to reach the scene until Friday morning, when the body was taken by helicopter to the Coconino County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Officials with the National Park Service said his name is being withheld until his identity is confirmed and his next of kin notified.
The death at the Grand Canyon was the second at the internationally renowned natural landmark last week.
On Wednesday, Abel Joseph Mejia, 20, of North Carolina accidentally fell about 400 feet at Pipe Creek Overlook, officials said in a statement.
Turning Point Pentecostal Church in Ohio wrote on Facebook that Mejia was on a mission trip when the incident occurred.
In the statement, Grand Canyon National Park staff encouraged people to stay within designated paths and walkways and to stay at least six feet away from the edges.