Body of Missing Hiker Is Found Days After Being Swept Away by Flood at Utah's Zion National Park

Body of Missing Hiker Is Found Days After Being Swept Away by Flood at Utah's Zion National Park (msn.com)

Body of Missing Hiker Is Found Days After Being Swept Away by Flood at Utah's Zion National Park

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Body of Missing Hiker Is Found Days After Being Swept Away by Flood at Utah's Zion National Park

Charmaine Patterson 

 

Jetal Agnihotri/FaceBook© Provided by People

 

The body of a hiker who was reported missing after a flash flood at Zion National Park in southern Utah has been found.

The search for 29-year-old Jetal Agnihotri of Tucson, Arizona, began after a group of people were "swept off their feet" by high flood waters on Friday. She was found Monday, according to a release from the National Park Service.

Her body was recovered in the Virgin River near the Court of the Patriarchs in the park, NPS said, adding that she was pronounced deceased by a medical examiner.

"Our deepest sympathy goes out to the friends and family of Jetal Agnihotri," Jeff Bradybaugh, Zion National Park superintendent, said in the release.

 

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"She is gone," her brother Pujan Agnihotri told local CBS affiliate KUTV. He had come from Texas to help find her. Their parents also traveled from Arizona to Zion National Park during the four-day search.

Mostafa Javadian, a friend who was with Jetal, told Fox affiliate KSTU they wanted to visit Zion National Park before starting the fall semester at the University of Arizona. Once being told about flash floods in the area, Javadian and other friends left. However, Jetal said she wanted to stay and tour the Narrows, he said. She was supposed to reunite with them at a nearby parking lot around 5:30 that evening but never made it.

Related video: Body of missing Zion National Park hiker found

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Amateur video of the flood shared by KUTV appears to show an individual floating downstream as the water rushes by a group of bystanders on shore.

The victim's family told KUTV that they believe the person in the video is Jetal.

 

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Over 170 first responders joined the efforts to find Jetal.

The NPS said in its release that the park was first alerted at 2:15 p.m. local time on Friday "of multiple hikers being swept off their feet by a flash flood in the Narrows near the Temple of Sinawava." Rangers "immediately" rushed to the scene, where multiple hikers were found, including one that had been pushed downstream, and others who were surrounded by water "on high ground."

That evening, the NPS got word that Jetal never returned from the hike, launching the search that ended on Monday.

 

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Javadian told KSTU that Jetal was "a good fighter" and said is not one to give up. "She's one of the most wonderful person that I have ever seen," he explained to the outlet. "I mean she's kind with anybody."

The Narrows is designated as a "strenuous" hike and can take about eight hours to complete, according to Zion National Park's 2022 information guide.

Hikers "are responsible" for checking conditions prior to attempting the trail that runs along the Virgin River, which is prone to flash flooding.

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