A woman fell to her death at a popular but remote central Australian tourist destination on Sunday, while walking at Watarrka National Park, an Indigenous sacred site midway between Alice Springs and Uluru.
The incident occurred at Kestrel Falls, along the popular 6km Rim Walk which skirts the edge of Kings Canyon and descends into the Garden of Eden oasis. The sides of the gorge are up to 100m high at some points.
Other tourists raised the alarm when they saw the woman fall, and park rangers were the first on the scene, according to Edwin Edlund, spokesman for the NT parks and wildlife service. He told Guardian Australia that staff from the local health clinic also responded.
While there are media reports the woman was a British tourist, NT police told Guardian Australia they did not have that information yet, and would not be confirming her identity until next of kin were informed.
Craig Garroway, area manager for the Northern Territory St John’s Ambulance service said the organisation was involved in the emergency response from afar, as part of the multi-agency coordination, but the woman died before its paramedic arrived.
Initially police reported the woman had fallen 50m to 100m and had sustained multiple broken bones, but later on Sunday evening they said the woman had died.
“Our thoughts are with the woman's family along with the national parks personnel and emergency services that responded to the incident,” said territory duty superintendent Kylie Proctor.
“Police are currently investigating to determine the exact circumstances surrounding the incident with a file to be prepared for the territory coroner.”
Edlund said while he did not know the circumstances of this specific incident, “these walks do have warning signs that encourage people to stay on the walking track”.
In his nine years with the parks service, Edlund said most incidents he was aware of involved health and heat related issues as temperatures soared above 30C in warmer months.
Garroway agreed: “For the thousands of people whogo there, it’s a very small number of incidents of people getting hurt.”
There had been minor incidents in Kestrel Falls before, the director of the central Australian parks, Chris Day, told ABC, but he added it would be impractical to fence off all areas.
Tourists are also requested to stick to the path as the site is an Indigenous sacred site, echoing a similar request that people do not climb Uluru. In 2010, a man died while climbing the famous rock, the 36th death since the 1950s.
