7 people have died in national parks since the beginning of the closure. But this is not unusual.



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Three of these deaths are accidental, including that of a 14-year-old girl who fell from Horseshoe Bend, Arizona, on December 24th. Four more deaths would be suicides, according to Mike Litterst, acting chief of the National Park Service. spokesperson and head of public affairs.

But while tragic, the death toll is not unusual for the National Park Service, which has six deaths per week on average, Litterst said. Deaths include accidents such as drowning, falls and road accidents, as well as medical incidents such as heart attacks, he said.

Overall, it is a tiny fraction of the more than 330 million people who visited the country's 418 sites. National Park system in 2017, according to data from the National Parks Service.

The National Park Service, which generally employs 24,681 people, was fired with the exception of 3,298 of them when the closure began on December 22nd. Many parks remained open at closing, but there were no services for visitors, toilets, garbage collection, facilities or maintenance of roads, said the National Park Service.

However, there is no indication that deaths in the last two weeks were related to the closure.

The 14-year-old girl was found at the foot of Horseshoe Bend, about 700 feet under the watchtower. Her body was found on Christmas morning around 10 am and the initial investigation indicates that she died as a result of an accidental fall.

In addition, a male visitor from Yosemite National Park in California died on Christmas Day after being injured in the head over the fall of Nevada, According to a statement from Andrew Munoz, Acting Head of Public Affairs and Congress, National Parks Service, provided by CNN Branch, KFSN.

A 42-year-old Texas woman, who was hiking with her husband and three children, was also struck and killed by the fall of a tree in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on 27 December. The accident occurred under high winds, Litterst said.

  A group of young Muslims clean up national parks despite the government's closure

Up to Now, linked to closure Problems in national parks are mainly related to cleanliness and sanitation. For example, in Joshua Tree National Park in California, campgrounds were forced to close on January 2 for health and safety reasons, as vault chests reached maximum capacity, National Park said. Service.

"In addition to human waste in public places,

Yosemite National Park has also closed a number of campgrounds and facilities in the park because of the consequences of human waste and safety. Public National Park

The National Parks Service noted, however, that the Yosemite visitor's death investigation had been affected by the closure.

"We do not publish more details because the incident still being investigated, which is taking longer than usual because of the judgment, "Munoz said." A press release has not been issued because of the 39, Judgment. "

Braden Walker, Chris Boyette, CNN, and Amanda Watts contributed to this report. [ad_2]
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