68-year-old woman dies on Grand Canyon National Park boating trip, rangers say

A Colorado woman died on the ninth day of a boating trip through the Grand Canyon, park rangers said.

Mary Kelley, a 68-year-old from Steamboat Springs, was found unresponsive after entering the Colorado River on Thursday, March 24, the National Park Service said.

Members of her boating group pulled her from the water and began CPR, park rangers said.

The noncommercial river trip sent an emergency personal locator beacon to park officials at about 11:18 a.m.

“Park rangers were flown into the location with the park helicopter and all resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful,” officials said in a Friday, March 25, news release. “Kelley was on day nine of a multi-day private boating trip.”

Park officials did not say what led to Kelley becoming unresponsive in the water.

The woman entered the water near Hance Rapid, which park officials called a “highly technical and powerful whitewater rapid.”

The National Park Service and the county medical examiner are investigating the incident.

Many tourists take commercial river trips on the Colorado River, according to the National Park Service. Some take single-day or half-day trips, while other trips can be up to 18 days.

Multiple people died on the Colorado River in 2021. A 63-year-old died in June on the sixth day of a private boating trip, according to McClatchy News.

In April, a 60-year-old woman died in a boating accident when a commercial river trip motorboat overturned, officials said. The accident also injured two others.

This story was originally published March 25, 2022 at 1:55 PM with the headline "68-year-old woman dies on Grand Canyon National Park boating trip, rangers say."