American Tourist, 16, Dead After Falling Over 300 Feet from Popular Walking Trail in Switzerland

Authorities in Switzerland say an American teenager has died after falling more than 300 feet while sightseeing.

The 16-year-old girl was hiking with a friend and the friend’s family in Valais just after 10:30 a.m. local time on Sunday, June 9, when she “stumbled” and fell about 100 meters (328 feet) down an embankment, according to a French-language news release from Valais police, translated by both CBS and NBC News.

Police said the group was walking along the popular “Gorges Mystérieuses” trail in the Tête-Noire gorge near the Trient River when the incident occurred.

Per NBC News, “two helicopter crews, two regional rescue teams and emergency psychologists” all responded to the scene. Rescuers eventually found the teen’s body in a riverbed below the trail. Authorities have not released her identity.

Police said the friend’s father was also rescued after getting stuck on a rock wall while attempting to save the teen. He was not injured.

An investigation into the incident is ongoing. It is unclear how the girl stumbled and fell from the trail.

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Created in 1884, the Tête-Noire pathway features 120 kilometers (74.5 miles) of walkways and bridges that lead to the bottom of the gorge, where visitors can find waterfalls and a hidden grotto, according to the Swiss government’s tourism website.

The return path is a centuries-old international trade route that connects Martigny in Switzerland and Chamonix in France.

Sunday’s incident occurred in the same canton where another American teen died in April after the 15-year-old was caught in an avalanche near the Swiss Alpine ski resort of Zermatt.

Two other people were reportedly also killed in the April incident, and a 20-year-old Swiss man was seriously injured.