TOPEKA, Kan. — Officials identified a woman who tragically fell into a gorge in Glacier National Park as a Kansas student.
The National Park Service released an announcement online saying that University of Kansas student Atheer Abdulrahman S. Alquahtani from Saudi Arabia died Monday afternoon after she fell into Avalanche Creek.
The NPS stated in its announcement that she drowned, KSNT reports.
NPS spokeswoman Gina Kerzman said on May 22, Alquahtani fell off a rocky overhang into Avalanche Creek and was swept away into the gorge. Bystanders later spotted Alquahtani in a creek passing beneath the bridge of Trail of the Cedars.
The bystanders waded into the water to pull her out and began applying CPR while others left to find park rangers.
Kerzman said emergency workers and park rangers responded to the scene, who later declared Alquahtani dead at the side of the creek before carrying her out of the park.
Kerzman said Alquahtani’s friends told investigators she had just finished her first year of her master’s degree at KU. Alquahtani had been on a road trip tour of national parks to celebrate with her friends who described her as a risk-taker that loved being near water.
Kerzman said no foul play is suspected in Alquahtani’s death. The site where the incident occurred is off-trail and many other visitors take the same risk. Kerzman wrote that water-related incidents like this are the leading cause of death at Glacier National Park.