China News Service, September 26 — According to a report compiled by the Chinese-language newspaper China Press based in the U.S., on the 24th, a Chinese tourist fell from a 24-meter-high arch rock while visiting Arches National Park in Utah, the United States, and is currently in critical condition.
According to The Salt Lake Tribune, the Chinese tourist, a 27-year-old man from Beijing who was traveling in the U.S., fell at around 7 p.m. on the 24th after climbing up a smooth rock face about 80 feet (approximately 24.4 meters) high.
Paul Henderson, spokesperson for Arches National Park, said that when the injured man was first found, he was lying unconscious under the arch rock with a head wound, but regained consciousness shortly afterward. However, the man later told medical personnel that he had no feeling in his legs.
The Chinese tourist was subsequently airlifted to St. Mary’s Hospital in Grand Junction, Colorado.
The location where the incident occurred is a popular spot among photographers for night shoots of the arch rocks. The national park prohibits visitors from climbing the arch rocks without authorization, and it appears the tourist had climbed up the rock without permission before falling.
A hiker said that the incident happened around sunset, and he was standing not far from the injured person. “The tourist had come with a woman of similar age, who kept reminding him to watch his step. But when he stepped onto a shorter arch rock, he slipped and then fell,” the hiker recalled. (Marcus)