A mom-of-three fell 140 feet to her demise while walking with her husband and their one-year-old child on a mountain in Arizona.
Zaynad Joseph, 40, was heard ‘yelling’ and found seriously injured by a group of hikers on Bear Mountain in Sedona, said the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday.
The group called 911 and one member hiked down an embankment and discovered Joseph still breathing.
‘Unfortunately, she passed away shortly after,’ stated the sheriff’s office on X (formerly Twitter).
Sedona Fire was the first agency to arrive at the scene on Monday morning and pronounced Joseph dead.
Joseph’s husband and their toddler were flown off of the mountain, and her body was recovered by public safety rangers and search and rescue volunteers.
Multiple hikers who descended the mountain were interviewed and Joseph’s death remains under investigation.
The family was visiting from California and renting an Airbnb in Sedona, according to the sheriff’s office.
Joseph’s sister wrote on Facebook that her ‘beloved’ sibling had died ‘in a tragic accident’.
‘She had a heart of gold and was very dear to all of us,’ her sister wrote, according to the Daily Mail. ‘No words can describe the pain our families are going through, especially her husband and three young children.’
Sedona has a population of less than 10,000 but is a popular tourist attraction.
Bear Mountain is ‘generally considered a challenging route’, according to AllTrails. ‘This is a very popular area for hiking, so you’ll likely encounter other people while exploring.’
Anyone with information on the incident is urged to contact the sheriff’s office.
It is the latest tragedy to befall a family out on a hike.
In July, a father with five children hiking near Multnomah Falls in Oregon fell to his demise in front of his wife and children. Gerardo Hernandez-Rodriguez fell nearly 200 feet down an embankment along the Columbia River Highway and died at the scene.
