Chain-reaction rescue killed three at Yosemite

L A Times ^ | 07/20/2011

[Responsibility2nd]

Several people in a hiking group at Yosemite that included three who were swept away and presumed dead had climbed over a barricade and were in the water about 25 feet from the edge of a waterfall, standing, playing and taking photographs, witnesses told Yosemite rangers.

[Responsibility2nd]

No Comment. Actually, I have comments. I do.

But I'll use some restraint and just leave the obvious unspoken.

[freedumb2003]

>>Vernal Falls is marked with warning signs and barricaded off with a metal-bar guardrail that “takes some effort” to climb over, Gediman said.<<

Res ipsa loquater... En Darwinus, Darwinactus...

[colorado tanker]

Climbing over a guardrail and warning sign so you can fall to your death must at least merit an honorable mention in the Darwin Awards.

[Wally_Kalbacken]

Modesto -2, Turlock -1.

[bcsco]

Were these their real names or their DUmmie usernames?

[Migraine]

The victims were not related...

I beg to differ.

[ltc8k6]

Well, clearly the railings were too low and the signs were too few and too small. Welcome to court.

[Red Badger]

Vernal Falls.......................

[MaxMax]

Um, the doctor said your gonna die. Moment.

[AlmaKing]

I’ve hiked to this spot. There is not a guardrail extending across the whole falls nor preventing you from going in the water. The story is inaccurate.

[Twotone]

I lived in Hawaii many years ago. While I was there 6 teenage friends went to a waterfall for a hike & a swim. There’d been lots of rain, & the fall was really strong. One person swam too close & got pulled under. One after another, the friends went in after each other. The last guy had the sense not try. Very sad...

[Georgia Girl 2]

The law of natural selection at work.

[Red Badger]

FROM WIKI:

Ten people have died in the last decade by entering the water above Vernal Falls, including the Silver Apron and Emerald Pool. In fact, one person died in May 2007 after hopping from rock to rock around the falls. Strong undercurrents exist that may not be visible from the surface. Clearly, swimming above a waterfall can carry with it a great deal of risk, and it is against the park rules; nevertheless, tourists have been known to be swept over the Yosemite Valley’s waterfalls to their deaths.[6]

[EQAndyBuzz]

“Vernal Falls”

As does, Hormiz David, 22, of Modesto; Ninos Yacoub, 27, of Turlock; and Ramina Badal, 21, of Modesto.

[HerrBlucher]

Amazing how fast a fun day can go bad. It must have been a horrible sight for the other hikers to see the three go over.

[Red Badger]

I wonder who went first?..............

[Tijeras_Slim]

One of Slim’s Rules of Survival:

Moving water will always win.

[freedomlover]

O well, their votes will live on . . .

[truthguy]

Tragic, and it also angers me. It angers me that these fools ignored the warnings. I've been to Yosemite many times and I've seen this time and time again. At the base of Yosemite water falls are a large group of rocks that are off limits. There are signs stating that fatal accidents occur yearly on these rocks. And yet there are people climbing all over these rocks. And I've seen people climbing all over these rocks with their children. That's how stupid and foolish many people are. These people should be arrested and charged with child endangerment. Tragic nonetheless.

[Red Badger]

I don’t think they meant ‘across the falls’, just above the falls upstream to warn people who care to read and heed.............