Boy survives 100ft Grand Canyon fall after dodging tourist photo
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/1427367
Archived version: https://archive.ph/p1rSg
Archived version: https://web.archive.org/web/20230814011105/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-66495043
Among his injuries were nine broken vertebrae, a ruptured spleen, broken hand and a collapsed lung. [...] "We're just lucky we're bringing our kid home [to North Dakota] in a car in the front seat instead of in a box."
... I'm not sure that's the best way to transport someone who was just diagnosed with nine broken vertebrae.
I assume he was in whatever local hospital for a while until safe to move.
They’re doing a road trip, I’m concerned
I think they meant that they will drive him home in the front seat. The article seems to be written within the same week as the accident, I can’t imagine he’s been released from the hospital yet.
I thought it was odd, too - but from the article it seems like he has.
He was flown to hospital with serious injuries but has since been discharged.
I was thinking there must be younger siblings in the back, so he had to travel in front. But now I realize both parents were there, so that means one of the parents is in the back seat...
Maybe they had him in the front seat because it reclines?
Wyatt's father, Brian Kauffman, who was home in North Dakota at the time of the accident.
“Hey kid! Can you get out of the photo?!”
[jumps off cliff]
“Thanks,”
That reads like something that would be in an ASDF Movie.
Damn. I remember looking at a book at the Grand canyon rim souvenir shop that documented all the hundreds of people who have died by falling into the Grand canyon over the many decades. It's kind of a sobering reality when you stand right on the edge and look down hundreds of feet and realize that it wouldn't take much for your life to end right then and there.
Somewhere a photographer from 20 years ago has a photo of me standing right at the edge probably of this exact same cliff. I still can't believe I did that as I have a severe fear of heights, lol.
Hope the kid gets better and gains a healthy fear of heights after this.
From what I remember the leading cause of death at the Grand Canyon is still airplane crash due to several accidents before the 80's.
I remember reading that book. My takeaway from it was that if I go hiking in there, I'm taking a friend.
One of the major risk factors for dying out there was if you were a guy going out there by yourself. I'd bet they would all be alive today if they just had someone else there to tell them their idea was stupid, and sometimes you just need to say it out loud before you realize its dumb halfway through explaining it
Over the Edge: Death in Grand Canyon. Maybe it should be required reading—or at least required skimming—for anyone walking around out there. So many dumb-dumbs with cameras trying to get selfies on the edge, or just wanting to look over…
Holy shit! That's the book! I haven't seen that in years.
I always have this harrowing thought every time I was there (I lived in AZ, it was a once-every-few-years sort of affair). I have a memory of my Dad posing for a picture there, right where there's an ankle-high wall leading to certain doom. He didn't fall, but it wouldn't take much and it gives me such Call of the Void vibes looking at that photo.
<shudder>
This is the best summary I could come up with:
It took rescue crews two hours to pull Wyatt Kauffman to safety on Tuesday after falling off a ledge at the popular tourist site's North Rim.
Wyatt told a local television station he had fallen while moving out of the way so people could take pictures.
He said he had been squatting down and holding onto a rock with one hand when he lost his grip and started to fall back.
"After the fall, I don't remember anything after that," he told Phoenix television station KPNX while in hospital.
Wyatt was pulled to safety by a team from the Grand Canyon National Park, who rappelled down a cliff after deciding a helicopter rescue would not be possible due to the terrain.
"We're extremely grateful for the work of everyone," said Wyatt's father, Brian Kauffman, who was home in North Dakota at the time of the accident.
I'm a bot and I'm open source!
Wyatt was pulled to safety by a team from the Grand Canyon National Park, who rappelled down a cliff after deciding a helicopter rescue would not be possible due to the terrain.
If this were a plot point in a movie, I would have called it a contrived excuse to have the heroes scale a rock wall.
Damn, wish I was young
That's terrifying. My family went to the Grand Canyon when I was a young teen and my brothers were even younger. They were romping around and I was sure one of them was going to die. That poor kid, and his poor family. I can't imagine the absolute terror of watching your kid go over the edge.
Holy shit, that’s one lucky kid
Thanks for the meters.
Jesus. 13 year old survives 100 foot fall, meanwhile I stretched too far to reach some chips in the highest parts of the cupboard and now I can’t look right.
Kids are made basically out of rubber. Adults however... Have you ever seen a rubber band that's been sitting in a drawer for like 5 years without use? Yeah, kind of a similar thing.
Wow! What an analogy 👏👏👏
Here have some Reddit gold on me 🏆