Lake Mead is Deadliest of US Park Service Sites
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Visitors to the Lake Mead National Recreation Area enjoy ample sunshine and miles of open water but also have a 1-in-307,000 chance of dying, an outdoor publication says.
The Las Vegas Review Journal reports that Outside magazine ranks the 1.5 million-acre site as America's deadliest national park. Lake Mead is east of Las Vegas. The magazine based its ranking on an analysis of fatalities at National Park Service sites over the past 10 years. Between 2006 and September 2016, 271 people died at Lake Mead.
That's roughly 100 more than second place Yosemite National Park and 120 more than Grand Canyon National Park. Lake Mead spokeswoman Christie Vanover says there are a host of reasons for fatalities, but the most common is drowning.