The Grand CanyonCourtesy Mark RyanI’m not quite sure how this happened but a man claims he accidentally drove his car off the South Rim of the Grand Canyon – and survived. A park visitor came across the dazed 21 year-old walking along nearby Desert View Drive. The man told authorities his car had plunged about 200 feet before it became lodged against a tree that luckily stopped it from dropping 400 feet farther into the mile-deep canyon. The man said he had somehow extricated himself from the wreckage then climbed back to the top of the canyon to seek help. Park officials don’t know what to make of it, but are investigating. A couple years back another man drove his car off the South Rim of the canyon but didn’t survive the crash, and was probably a suicide. The Center for Disease Control reports that the Grand Canyon ranks second among national parks for suicides.
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whoa. what's the first?
Good question. I was quoting the Washington Post story but in looking up the actual CDC report from December 2010, it looks like the Blue Ridge Parkway is first in successful suicides (15 vs 11 at the Grand Canyon). But according to one of the tables included with the report, if you add suicide attempts into the mix then the two locations share 1st place with 21 attempted and successful suicides each.
From my rafting trip through the canyon years ago, guides said that the most common way to commit suicide there is for people to simply walk into the river into the strongest current and get swept away.
Good post,I have read the all post.It is very dengerious that Grand Canyon is the Center for Disease Control reports that the Grand Canyon ranks second among national parks for suicides.
This is really amazing fact that a man plunged in the Grand Canyon for 200 feet and survived. It is really unbelievable fact. No doubt it is called the second among national parks for suicides as some years ago another man was plunged and crashed. But your story is called a miracle.
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