American tourist, 16, dies after falling 328ft to her death while hiking in Switzerland with best friend’s family

An American tourist has died after she falling about 328ft down an embankment while hiking in Switzerland.

The 16-year-old was hiking in the Gorges Mystérieuses in Trient, a tiny municipality in the canton of Valais, which borders France and Italy, with her best friend’s family on Sunday morning when she tripped.

Valais cantonal police said the teen then rolled down the embankment for about 328ft (100m) and, despite rapid response from emergency services, she was found dead in the bed of the Le Trient river. 

Her friend’s father, who presumably had tried to find the girl, had to be extracted by rescuers after getting stuck in a rock wall. He was not injured in the incident.

Police and the prosecutor’s office have opened an investigation into her death. 

The group of American tourists went for a hike along a trail in the Gorges Mystérieuses around 10.30am on Sunday.

First responders were called to trail after the girl fell. Investigators are working to determine why she fell, but say she certainly did so after having tripped.

The incident comes one month after an off-duty Swiss police officer found the body Captain Sean Thomas, 30. The Canadian soldier was one of the three people killed in the colossal snow collapse close to a popular ski resort in Zermatt, located roughly 73miles away from Trient

Two Air Glaciers helicopters and the Cantonal Valais Rescue Organization, along with the Muveran-Trient rescue column and emergency psychologists, responded to the accident.

Neither the identity of the victim, nor of the family she had been hiking with, has not yet been made public. 

The incident comes one month after an off-duty Swiss police officer found the body of a missing Canadian soldier who had been presumed dead after vanishing when he got caught in an avalanche.

Captain Sean Thomas, 30, was one of the three people killed in the colossal snow collapse close to a popular ski resort in Zermatt, located roughly 73miles away from Trient, in April.

The Infantry Officer with the Royal Highland Fusiliers of Canada had been on leave from an operation in the Middle East at the time of the accident.

His body was found on May 10 by an officer hiking in the area, PlanetSki reported. 

Thomas’ girlfriend Nicole ‘Nikki’ Nagy, 25, a Canadian citizen, was killed in the avalanche. A 58-year-old Swiss man and Aleksas Beiga, a 15-year-old boy from Illinois, also died.