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 The seven canyoneers were swept to their deaths late Monday
afternoon during a flooding that killed 12 people and left two
others missing elsewhere in southern Utah, most of them in the town
of Hilldale on the Arizona border.
The body of the seventh and final member of the canyoneering group
missing in Zion was located on Thursday, capping three days searches
by more than 60 park rangers, sheriff's deputies and emergency
personnel from several agencies.
The names of the seven victims, who ranged in age from their mid-40s
to mid-50s, were being kept confidential until next of kin were
notified.
Park officials said all were visitors from California and Nevada
hiking together on a day trip through narrow Keyhole Canyon, a
challenging route on the east side of Zion that requires canyoneers
to swim through several pools of water and rappel steep slopes.
The leader of the group had experience exploring that canyon and
others, said Cindy Purcell, Zion's chief park ranger.
The group obtained its permit for the trip at 7:30 a.m. Monday, even
though they were advised the National Weather Service had forecast a
40 percent chance of rain and the probability of flash flooding in
the park, Purcell said.
"The ranger who handed that permit to that man said, 'I would not go
today,'" Purcell said. "However, the people who go make the choice,
they sign the paper that says that it is their safety and their
responsibility."
Purcell said park rangers would only decline to issue a permit in
the event that an official flash flood warning was posted. The
National Weather Service did issue such an advisory that day but
only after the seven canyoneers had already set out on their
venture, she said.
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Keyhole Canyon permits were issued that day to two other groups,
Purcell said. One canceled and the other, a group of three, started
before the seven-member team but passed them and made it out safely,
she said.
Nearly an inch of rain fell on Zion in less than an hour on Monday,
swelling the North Fork of the Virgin River, which Keyhole Canyon
drains into through two tributary creeks, from 55 to 2,600 cubic
feet of water per second.
Flash-flood fatalities are rare in Zion, which is visited by more
than 3 million people a year.
This week's deaths marked the greatest loss of life in Zion's
history, surpassing a 1963 tragedy in which five people were killed
by flash flooding in the Virgin River Narrows, Purcell said. Since
then, floodwaters have killed six others in the park, most recently
a man drowned in 2014, she said.
(Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Bill Trott)
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