arizona news
Has been updated: October 25, 2022 at 1:31 PM
(Photo from Coconino County Sheriff’s Office)
PHOENIX – Several tourists were rescued by a rope on Monday after spending the night on the 21st basement level after an elevator malfunctioned at the Grand Canyon Caverns in northern Arizona.
The Coconino County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday that eight people were at the bottom when the elevator malfunctioned Sunday night, and four were able to escape on their own by climbing the fire escape.
Authorities have decided that the stranded people will stay overnight in a hotel suite at the bottom of the Grand Canyon Caverns in an effort to repair the elevator.
Rescue teams, including 10 Coconino County Sheriff’s Department and four Flagstaff Fire Department members, were dispatched to the Peach Springs tourist attraction when the elevator was not repaired by 10:30 a.m. Monday. .
Rescuers arrived around 2:00 pm and constructed a rope system inside the elevator shaft. One of the overnight stayers ended up climbing a flight of stairs, and rescuers pulled the other three up one by one.
No one required medical attention and the rescue was completed by 6pm
The Grand Canyon Caverns are located off Route 66 between Kingman and Flagstaff and are not part of the Grand Canyon National Park.
