Yosemite National Park Deaths: Israeli Tourist Dies Taking Selfie On Nevada Fall

An 18-year-old teen, who was visiting the United States from Israel, fell to his death Wednesday at Yosemite National Park in California, while reportedly trying to click a selfie.

The deceased was identified as Tomer Frankfurter by the Israel’s Foreign Ministry. According to his mother, the teen was trying to take selfie by standing at the edge of Nevada Fall — one of the attractions of the national park, which falls along the route toward the famed Half Dome hike — before he fell 820 feet to his death.

The teen’s body was recovered by the U.S. officials and sent back to his native country for burial, Times of Israel reported. The U.S. military coordinated the transfer.

Frankfurther was on a two-month trip to the U.S., after which he was scheduled to join the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). According to Jerusalem Post, it was quite common for young people in Israel to plan a trip to the United States, South America or the Far East before joining the army or after serving in the IDF. In case their military drafting dates were months after the end of the school year, youngsters would often use the opportunity to tour abroad.

It is not known if Frankfurther was hiking alone or with companions.

Deaths are not uncommon in the Yosemite National Park. In fact, there have been five deaths over the last five months in the facility.

It is difficult to estimate exactly how many people have died since the park was established in 1890. An Outside Online article, dedicated to analyzing the deadliest national parks, states between January 2006 to September 2016, 150 people died in Yosemite.

Some of the deaths that typically occur in the park included climbing accidents, river drowning, suicides, lightning strikes, free-fall BASE jumpers whose parachutes malfunctioned, hikers mysteriously disappearing, car crashes, homicides and more.

The official website of the Park Services does not provide an updated aggregated records on the number of fatalities. Authors Michael Ghiglieri and Charles "Butch" Farabee even co-wrote a 608-page book called “Off the Wall: Death in Yosemite” in 2007, on the different instances of deaths in the park, dating back to the time it first opened.

"The amount of research involved was unbelievably tedious," Ghiglieri, an ecologist and professional wilderness guide, told the Union Democrat. "I wanted to know every possible detail because that makes for better stories."

Back in July, the National Park Service officials announced portions of Yosemite Valley will be temporarily shut down as the Ferguson Fire steadily threatened the western boundary of the facility and smoke from the wildfire enveloped the region.

“We apologize to visitors. We understand the impacts on their trips. But this is about the health and safety of them and park employees,” Scott Gediman, a park spokesman, said at the time. “We understand this is a huge impact. We’re hoping to resume normal operations as soon as it is safe.”