Man Dies After Attempting Illegal BASE Jump with a Parachute Off South Rim of Grand Canyon

The unidentified man's death is the second in the Grand Canyon this week

A man has died after attempting an illegal BASE jump with a parachute in the Grand Canyon.

On Thursday, Aug. 1, a man, whose identity has not been released, was attempting to BASE jump from the Yavapai Point, located on the canyon's South Rim in Arizona, the National Park Service's Grand Canyon Regional Communications Center said in a statement.

BASE jumping — in which jumpers attach themselves to fixed objects like cliffs, bridges or the four structures the sport is named after (buildings, antennas, spans and earth) and then deploy a parachute to slow their fall to the ground — is prohibited in the Grand Canyon, and the National Park Service (NPS) calls the sport a "high-risk activity."

At around 7:30 a.m. local time, park rangers were alerted to the man's activities and later found his body about 500 feet below the rim of the canyon, alongside his opened parachute.

Rescue teams were able to reach the man on Friday morning, the NPS added in its statement. His body was first taken to the canyon's rim by helicopter, before it was then brought to the Coconino County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Related: Hiker's Video Captures Terrifying Moment BASE Jumper Slams into Canyon Wall, Then Dangles from Cliff

"The National Park Service and the Coconino County Medical Examiner’s Office are conducting an investigation into the incident," the NPS said. "The name of the victim is being withheld pending positive identification. No further information is available at this time."

The news of the BASE jumper's death comes shortly after a 20-year-old man's fatal 400-foot fall from the Pipe Creek Overlook at the Grand Canyon.

According to the NPS, rangers received a report on Wednesday, July 31, at around 10:40 a.m. local time that a man — later identified as college student Abel Joseph Mejia of Hickory, North Carolina — had fallen off the rim accidentally.

The park service added that his death was also under investigation by the medical examiner's office.

Related: College Student Falls 400 Feet to His Death at Grand Canyon: 'His Absence Will Be Deeply Felt'

Data from the NPS showed that falls were one of the “top three leading causes of unintentional deaths in parks” between 2014. to 2019.

Between those five years, there were 205 fatal falls across National Park Service parks. 

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