A woman has died from her injuries following a helicopter crash at the Grand Canyon.
Ellie Udall is the fifth person to die from the crash, which took place on Feb. 10.
Udall’s husband Jonathan died last week.
“Mrs. Udall passed away without regaining consciousness, in the Lion’s Burns Unit at the University Medical Centre, Las Vegas, USA. The family are exceedingly grateful for everything done by rescue services and volunteers in the Canyon, and throughout the last two weeks by the exceptional staff at UMC. Thank you for respecting our privacy at this extremely difficult time.”
The Udalls were on their honeymoon when the crash happened.
The three other people who died were friends of the couple and all five were British citizens.
The group was celebrating the birthday of one of the five, Stuart Hill, alongside the honeymoon, when they decided to take the helicopter trip.
The chopper crashed on tribal land in a section of the Grand Canyon, where air tours are not highly regulated.
Wind gusts of up to 20 mph were recorded around the time of the crash.
Lionel Douglass, who was performing a wedding ceremony nearby, witnessed the crash.
That’s when the other helicopter came into view.
“It was horrible. I was like, numb. I was so numb, like, ‘Is this really happening? What is going on?’”
Some of the people milling about rushed over to the site, reaching the victims to help them. Douglass and his group had to reboard their helicopter about 45 minutes later, praying they would survive their trip.
“I worried all the way through the flight and then that (crash) happens,” Douglass said. “We should not have been up there, bottom line.”
Federal officials are investigating the crash.
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