Yosemite Hiker Still Missing, Search Called Off

A hiker at Yosemite National Park was still missing on Monday morning as authorities called off their search.

According to USA Today, rescue crews did not venture out today to search for 19-year-old Aleh Kalman. Park spokeswoman Kari Cobb said that rangers have been searching the park for the missing Yosemite hiker since he fell off of a 600-fooot waterfall into the Merced River on Saturday.

Rangers will keep a lookout for Kalman today but the intensive search has been called off.

Cobb said: “We believe a fall from the top of that waterfall is not survivable … We have moved to limited, continuous searching.”

KTVU reports that the search was called off because waters are too high in the park at the moment. Search crews will scan the area every few days until the water level drops and exposes more of the river bank.

Kalman was visiting the park with a church group. Cobb said that Kalman was swimming in the river, about 150 feet upstream from the 594-foot Nevada Fall, when he was swept away by the rushing waters.

Helicopters, dogs, and rescue workers combed the area on Saturday and Sunday in an effort to find the teenager. Kobb said that the river water is very high and fast at this time of the year with an average temperature of just over 50 degrees.

Authorities do not believe that Kalman survived the fall.

This is the second tragedy to occur at Yosemite in the last month. In May, a 73-year-old man fell to his death from a cliff at the park.