Woman's Body Found After Fall in Mystery Canyon at Zion National Park

A woman's body was found in a canyon in Utah on Sunday evening, after she fell while hiking alone in the area.

The 26-year-old woman was discovered by rangers at Zion National Park after other visitors reported she had fallen 50 to 80 feet in Mystery Canyon.

Search and rescue crews began looking for her on Saturday. A helicopter was sent out, but was unable to get to the woman because of the steep, narrow canyon walls, a statement from the park read.

Authorities said she had been canyoneering in Mystery Canyon when she sustained injuries consistent with a high elevation fall. Park medics managed to reach her shortly before she died.

The incident is currently under investigation by the Washington County Sheriff's Office and the National Park Service, and the woman's identity hasn't been released.

Several areas in the park were temporarily closed on Sunday to help the search and rescue teams recover her body.

Zion National Park is located near the city of Springdale, about 2 hours and 30 minutes northeast of Las Vegas. It's a popular hiking spot due to the area's spectacular natural beauty and steep red cliffs.

Newsweek has contacted the Washington County Sheriff's Office and the National Park Service for comment.

Just last month, a woman was found alive five months after she disappeared in a Utah canyon on the other side of the state.

The 47-year-old woman was first reported missing in November last year when her car was sighted near the Dry Canyon Trailhead in Diamond Fork Canyon by a U.S. Forest Service worker.

Authorities searched the area at the time, but found only what looked like a disused campsite.

On Monday May 3, a search and rescue operation resumed, including an aerial search in an effort to find evidence that the woman might still be in the Diamond Fork area.

Rescue teams eventually came across the woman inside a tent. She told officials she had rationed some food she had available and foraged for grass and moss while drinking water from a nearby river to stay alive.

In another miraculous story of survival, a man was found alive seven weeks after he was reported missing in Arizona's Grand Canyon.

Stephen Coleman, 60, from Portland, Maine, had last been seen on December 20 on the South Rim of the world-famous canyon.

The Grand Canyon National Park Service (NPS) said he was believed to be traveling alone and had indicated he was going hiking.

On February 7, seven weeks after he was last seen, Coleman was located "safe and in good health" outside of Grand Canyon National Park, the NPS said.