- File Photo- A tour group visiting Antelope Canyon near Page, Arizona. (Photo source: Manop/Wiki Commons, Creative Commons)
Page, AZ – On Friday, July 30, 2010 the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office received a report that a 4½ foot wall of water had trapped 8 individuals on a ledge in the South End of Upper Antelope Canyon near Page, Arizona . It was also reported that a child had possibly been swept away in the flood waters. The child was located a short time later in good condition.
Before rescue teams had arrived at Antelope Canyon some tour group organizers and local residents had successfully rescued 4 or the 8 eight people. Those rescued are a family from Georgia, all of whom were reported to be in good condition.
The remaining 4 people stranded on the ledge included 3 Swiss Nationals and 1 French National. A Classic Life Guard Helicopter was able to land close enough to the victims to determine they too were in good condition. After assessing the situation, rescue crews decided to wait for the flood waters to recede and then walk the victims to safety.
The ten year old child who was initially reported as being swept away by flood waters was found to be with the second group that was walked to safety. A Coconino County Sheriff’s Lieutenant reported that 45 minutes after the second group was safely walked out, another 4½ foot wall of water rushed through. Fortunately no one was in the canyon at the time.
The agencies that helped in the rescue included the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office (Page Division), Coconino County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue (Flagstaff), Page Police Department, Arizona Department of Public Safety, and the Page Fire Department Technical Rescue Team.
There where 3 people from Switzerland, 1 from Italy, 3 from Georgia and 1 from The Netherlands (me) standing on the ledge. The 3 people from georgia were rescued and the remaining 5 had to wait when the flood waters recede and then walk over safely.
My daughter made lots of photo’s she was standing on the other side with my husband and a lot of other people.
Hoi Mirjam,
wat een avontuur! Wil je er over vertellen, stuur dan een mailtje naar s.docter@ad.nl met je telnr. Zodat ik er over kan schrijven voor de krant van morgen (=maandag).
Groet en hartelijk dank,
Suzanne Docter
Nieuwsdienst AD
Hi Mirjam, that’s quite an adventure! Do you want to tell us about your story? So that I can write about it for tomorrows newspaper. Please send me your phonenumber by sending a message to s.docter@ad.nl (Sorry for placing this reaction in English. But my former message in Dutch was removed. I think the administrator of this sited thought it consisted foul language
). Thanks and I hope to hear from you soon, Suzanne Docter
Dear Mirjam, I am so glad, that all persons, including you, could be rescued! I was also there with my family. We could run out of the Canyon, because we just startet our tour a few minutes before. We were really shocked and I think for you and your family it was a really bad experience. In our group there was a firefighter from Ohio that helped a woman out of the water.
The next day we found a short report about what happened in the lokal newspaper and today I found this page in the internet. We will never forget this day.
I wish you all the best and thank God that all are alive!
Petra from Switzerland
Mirjam Dijk had it right. It was my family, the 3 from Georgia, that were rescued from the ledge. I got caught on the opposite side. We did pull two young ladies from the river itself who were trapped in a little cranny on the side of the entrance, unable to get to the ledge. We pulled them up by wrapping a rope under their arms and pulling them up. Afterwards, the other 4 were pulled off the ledge. We too have a lot of pictures. So glad everyone got out alive.
Keith