Utah Hiker Caught in Rockslide Dies After Falling 700 Feet

A 49-year-old man hiking in Utah has died after he was caught in a rockslide over the weekend.

Around 8:45 a.m. local time on Saturday, July 19, the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue team responded to the incident in Bell’s Canyon, officials said in a statement.

Rescue workers found the man, who has not been publicly identified, unresponsive when they arrived. A representative from the sheriff’s office confirmed over the phone the man fell about 700 feet.

“A doctor who happened to be hiking in the area was the first to arrive and render aid,” a spokesperson from the sheriff’s office said in the release. “Despite immediate life-saving efforts, the individual was pronounced deceased at the scene.”

Crews searched the surrounding area to confirm no one else was seriously injured.

A witness, Heather Hayes and her husband, and a doctor, met the man while hiking, she told KSL.com, and they observed a few unstable rocks on their descent after recent rain in the area.

“I watched him as it loosened on him and he fell backwards,” she told the outlet. “It started a cascade of rocks and he called out to me for help, but I couldn’t even process what was happening as the rocks around us loosened and he fell backwards and started rolling down the mountain with the rock slide.”

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She told KSL.com her husband and another man nearby scrambled to reach the victim and began performing CPR to no avail.

“I was the last person he spoke to,” she told the outlet of the victim, “I think I was the only one close enough to him to see exactly what happened.”