An Illinois man was identified as the victim of a roughly 500-foot fall from Mather Point on the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park/NPS file
A 24-year-old man from Illinois was identified Friday as the victim of a roughly 500-foot fall from the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park.
Andrey Privin, from Buffalo Grove, Illinois, died Tuesday after he reportedly climbed over a railing at Mather Point, park staff said.
Some park visitors said they saw the young man "toss his backpack to his intended landing spot, but did not realize that he was going to try to jump the gap." However, the park staff would not confirm that account.
"I understand that people are hypothesizing about what happened," park spokeswoman Kirby-Lynn Shedlowski said in an email. "While the incident remains under investigation, I can share that it is most likely he removed his backpack for better dexterity." She did not elaborate.
Each year, two or three visitors to the park fall to their deaths from the South or North Rims, according to park accounts.
Comments
His family and friends are dealing with the tremendous loss of what sounds to be an exceptional human being. Comments by family, friends, and others whose lives Andrey touched describe him as a young man that loved life and loved others. So why would you be so cruelly insensitive to suggest the unfounded possibility of suicide? Next time, take a moment to think about others and the impact of your comment before you press send. Had the situation been reversed, Andrey Privin would have would have so.
Very tragic - very sad for the family, and for this young man who was about to start his life serving others. Just wrong decision in the spur of the moment, and a young life lost. If time could be reversed.
I was at the Grand Canyon all that week. I am an avid hiker and spent most days either hiking or walking around. I saw so many people going outside the bounds of were they should go it. I am not surprised and honestly from what I saw daily that this does not happen more frequently. I am not sure what goes through their head? That Tuesday I was on the Bright Angel trail and I could not believe how many people were at Ooh Ahh point dangling their feet over a 400 feet cliff in the exact spot were a woman fell off 2 years ago. Really silly way to die. There is a reason they put up railings, please observe the and don't trust the rock you are on will not crumble and fall away.
People who are going to fling themselves over a cliff don't first fling their backpack across a gap to a spot that they plan on landing on. As a matter of fact, why bring a backpack full of things you will need for a hike in the Grand Canyon if you're just going to commit suicide anyways; it's not like they're going to need that trail mix or bottle of water later. The fact that he had a backpack at all, and the witness reports that he threw it across a gap before trying to jump the gap himself, makes it pretty obvious that it wasn't a suicide. So it would appear that you don't know much, at least not about people who are going to end their lives.
Ooh Aah Point (not Ahh) is on South Kaibab Trail, not Bright Angel.
Some people have less control of their reckless impulses than others...
Why is suggesting suicide any more "cruelly insensitive" than suggesting poor judgement or recklessness that cut a life short? It only serves to perpetuate the false and misplaced and undeserved stigma surrounding suicide.
That said, what is it about human nature that demands that the peanut gallery must fill an necessary absence of facts with idle speculation? I don't know.