Rating:

0.0 (0 votes)

WEST YELLOWSTONE- A Yellowstone National Park concession employee who died after falling hundreds of feet near Inspiration Point in the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone has been identified.

Maria "Masha" Sergeyevna Rumyantseva, 18, of Kaliningrad, Russia was hiking the canyon's North Rim Trail with three other people on her first day in the park when she ventured off the trail onto a loose rock promontory that quickly gave way beneath her, according to a news release from the park.

Yellowstone Rangers responded to a 911 cell phone call received at 5:44 p.m. on Thursday. Rangers with the help of ground spotters and a Teton Interagency helicopter saw the woman's body resting about 400 feet down the canyon wall. They concluded that she had sustained non-survivable injuries.

Despite the hazardous terrain, the body was successfully recovered from the canyon by short-haul helicopter operation at around noon Friday.