three dumb hikers fall over falls

updated 7/20/2011 6:14:58 PM ET
Life
3 hikers who went over Yosemite falls presumed dead
'I saw the man's eyes when he went over the falls. That was
devastating,' witness says
msnbc.com staff and news service reports
YOSEMITE VALLEY, Calif. â€" Three people who climbed over a
guardrail in Yosemite National Park, fell into the raging Merced River
and plunged over Vernal Fall remain missing and are presumed dead, the
park service said Wednesday.
The victims, all California residents, were identified as Hormiz David,
22, of Modesto; Ramina Badal, 21, of Manteca; and Ninos Yacoub, 27, of
Turlock.
The trio was visiting the park on a day trip with a group of family and
friends when the tragedy occurred around 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, the park
service said in a statement.
"The group was witnessed entering the water above Vernal Fall,
approximately 25 feet from the precipice," it said. "Witnesses reported
to park officials that several people urged the group member to step
back from the river, since it was flowing swiftly and extremely cold.
The area is signed as a dangerous area, and the group had crossed a
metal guardrail placed there to keep visitors away from the dangerous
fast moving water.
"The park is still seeing the effects of a huge winter snowpack and a
cool spring and summer. The Merced River, which feeds the 317 foot
Vernal Fall, is still running at spring conditions with significant
water levels resulting in a swift, dangerous current."
Search teams were continuing to scour the river below Vernal Fall, park
spokeswoman Kari Cobb said.
A half-mile portion of the Mist Trail leading to the fall, which had
been closed, was reopened Wednesday morning.
The Fresno Bee, citing its sister publication the Modesto Bee, reported
Wednesday that the victims were part of a church group from Ceres.
It quoted Father Genard Lazar of the Church of the East, St. George
Parish, as saying that he and other members of the church youth group
were eating lunch and taking photos when the accident occurred, but that
he did not see them fall in.
"All I heard was screaming and I turned around and looked up and (David
and Badal) were being taken by the water over the waterfall," he said.
"... We were all crying and praying and someone called 911."
The paper quoted another priest, Father Nenos Michael, as saying that
Badal was a nursing student at the University of San Francisco, and
Yacoub was a chemistry student at Cal State University, Stanislaus.
On Tuesday, NBC Fresno affiliate KSEE quoted witnesses as saying they
saw a man and woman climb over the guardrail for a better view of the
waterfall. After they slipped into the water, another man jumped over
the guardrail to help and also fell over the edge of the falls, KSEE
said.
"I saw the man's eyes when he went over the falls. That was
devastating," witness Jacob Bibee told local Fresno station CBS47 TV.
'Screaming, running'
Another witness, Dean Sabo, said two of the victims clung together as
they neared the abyss.
"I saw two that were holding each other and one that was floating alone
through the water. And the reason that I looked was because this woman
was screaming, running along the edge of the water," he said.
They were then swept over the falls.
Vernal Fall is 1.5 miles from the Happy Isle Nature Center near Curry
Village in Yosemite Valley.
This is not the first time someone has fallen in the area. Ten people
have died in and around the waterfall over the past decade.
In July 2005, a 24-year-old man fell down Vernal Fall to his death after
losing his balance.
The snow-melt swollen rivers and lakes have claimed six lives in
Yosemite National Park this year, including Tuesday's incident, the park
service said. Two hikers drowned in the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir on June
29, 2011, and a hiker slipped and fell into the Merced River on the Mist
Trail on May 13, 2011.
Reuters contributed to this report.
*
Video coverage
Three hikers swept by waterfall (01:19)
Hikers swept away by Yosemite waterfall (01:47)
More videos in Life

On 7/21/2011 8:37 PM, lil p wrote:
[...]
The trio was visiting the park on a day trip with a group of family and
friends when the tragedy occurred around 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, the park
service said in a statement.

Thinning of the herd is a tragedy?

[...]
The paper quoted another priest, Father Nenos Michael, as saying that
Badal was a nursing student at the University of San Francisco, and
Yacoub was a chemistry student at Cal State University, Stanislaus.
On Tuesday, NBC Fresno affiliate KSEE quoted witnesses as saying they
saw a man and woman climb over the guardrail for a better view of the
waterfall. After they slipped into the water, another man jumped over
the guardrail to help and also fell over the edge of the falls, KSEE
said.[...]

Violation of the first rule of rescue - do not make yourself a victim also.

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Tºm Shermªn - 42.435731°N, 83.985007°W
I am a vehicular cyclist.