Arizona DPS Search and Rescue helicopter involved in Havasupai Canyon search

Sedona AZ (May 15, 2013) – *UPDATE MAY 15, 2013 at 10:23 AM – Supai Canyon; Sixty year-old Judy Jones of Phoenix, Arizona, who was reported missing after she separated from two companions while hiking in Supai Canyon has been located. She is being transported to Hill Top by an Arizona Department of Public Safety Air Rescue Helicopter.

At about 9 o’clock this morning, Bureau of Indian Affairs Rangers who were assisting with the ground search for Ms. Jones found her in an area known as Red Wall located in Rattlesnake Canyon.

Ms. Jones was described as being conscious and lucid and is being evaluated by medical personnel aboard the DPS helicopter while in route to Hill Top. Her exact medical condition at this time is unknown.

The Sheriff’s Office is grateful to all of the agencies and residents of Supai Canyon who assisted with this large scale search mission.

For the full story of this Search and Rescue continue reading:

Coconino County Sheriff’s Deputies and the Search and Rescue Unit are actively searching for a missing 60-year-old female hiker in Havasupai Canyon.

At about 1:30 in the afternoon of Tuesday, May 14, 2013, the Flagstaff 911 Reception Center received a broken call from a female stating she was lost in Supai Canyon and required assistance. The caller did not identify herself, but said she had been hiking since 6:00 in the morning and was following the river bottom when she became lost. She could only identify her location as being in a canyon.

A Sheriff’s Search and Rescue coordinator contacted the Bureau of Indian Affairs Office in Peach Springs and requested assistance with the search, and learned they had taken a missing persons report about an hour and half earlier. Two female hikers reported they were hiking in Havasupai Canyon with a friend identified as sixty-year-old Judy Jones of the Phoenix, Arizona, area.

According to the reporting parties, the three woman began hiking together around 6:00 a.m. but Jones split off and left them at about 8:30 a.m. The two continued to hike out of canyon and arrived at Hill Top around 11:30 a.m. and reported Jones missing when she did not arrive at the location.

An Arizona Department of Public Safety helicopter responded to the area and conducted an aerial search, but did not locate Jones. Several ground search teams comprised of Coconino County Search and Rescue, Havasupai Tribal Members and Bureau of Indian Affairs Police Officers searched the canyon, as well as set up containment points, but were unable to locate Jones.

The United States Air Force assisted in the search by providing an HC 130 fixed wing aircraft and two helicopters equipped with night vision equipment and searched the area south of Supai Village and Cataract Canyon but met with no success finding the overdue hiker.

The search will be expanded today, with the assistance from both the Yavapai and Mohave County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue teams.

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