The Coconino County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue team has retrieved two dead bodies from the wilderness in the past week in addition to handling its normal call volume.
The county Search and Rescue team is one of the busiest in the state, and has seen an increase in calls this year and expects their calls to surpass last years. Last year, from Jan. 1 to Aug. 16 the team had 93 calls. This year, the team has responded to 103 calls during the same time frame. The call load in just the last week ranges from lost hikers, fall injuries to dead bodies.
Monday, Search and Rescue responded to Sycamore Falls to recover the body of a person who died after falling while hiking.
Search and rescue personnel rappelled down to retrieve the body of the victim, who fell 80 feet. The sheriff’s office is investigating this incident.