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PROVO — Three people were injured, including two who suffered "serious-to-critical" injuries after three different falls in a 30-minute span at a popular waterfall in Provo Canyon.
Emergency crews received its first report of a fall at the bottom of the Stewart Falls shortly before noon, according to Utah County Sheriff's Sgt. Spencer Cannon.
A 43-year-old woman visiting from Hawaii fell and broke her leg. While crews responded to the scene to help her, two other people fell at the same waterfall.
A 9-year-old boy also visiting from Hawaii but unrelated to the 43-year-old woman and a 19-year-old Utah student both fell about 40 feet from near the top of the falls.
"It's not terribly uncommon to have calls come in close in proximity to each other but to have three separate incidents happen at the same location within half-an-hour is a little unusual," Cannon said.
The boy had "breathing problems" and was flown by medical helicopter to a nearby hospital. The 19-year-old woman was briefly knocked unconscious and had injuries to her hip and arm. She was taken to a hospital by ambulance. Cannon said both were transported in "serious-to-critical" condition but didn't have an update on their conditions Monday evening.
Investigators aren't sure what caused the boy and the 19-year-old woman to fall.
The North Fork Fire Department and Utah County Sheriff's Search and Rescue team responded to the initial call. The Provo Fire Department and LifeFlight crews assisted when the other two falls happened.
"It was in the same location, so the resources were right there and they were able to spread themselves out a little bit until other resources got there to help," Cannon said.
