NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

BLACKBERRY EDITION

Wednesday, May 31, 2006

===============================================================================================================

INCIDENTS

Golden Gate NRA

Missing Person - Presumed Fatality

On Wednesday, May 24th, a ranger was conducting a security check at the north anchorage of the Golden Gate Bridge when she heard radio traffic from an officer reporting a man in the water and asking for assistance from the U.S. Coast Guard. Two men from San Jose had been fishing along a rocky bluff at Fort Baker when a large wave knocked one of them off the rocks and into the bay. The other man immediately went for help. Rangers requested assistance from park lifeguards in personal watercraft. Lifeguards and U.S. Coast Guard air and marine units immediately began a search of the water, with additional assistance provided by the San Francisco Police Department's marine unit and a California Highway Patrol helicopter. An extensive search was conducted, but without results. The bay was at low tide at the time of the incident but strong currents and winds, coupled with a water temperature of 55 degrees, were impediments to anyone trying to swim to shore. [Kim Coast, Operations Supervisor]

Blue Ridge Parkway

Fatal Motorcycle Accident

A 74-year-old man from Eatonton, Georgia, lost control of his Kawasaki motorcycle and went off the road near milepost 402 on Monday, May 8th. He was headed northbound on the parkway with a group of friends at the time of the accident. The man sustained massive head trauma in the accident and was flown by Mission Air Medical Ambulance to Mission Hospital, where he underwent surgery to relieve cranial pressure. He never regained consciousness, though, and succumbed to his injuries on May 16th. [Tim Francis, Pisgah District Ranger]

* * * * *

Prepared by Visitor and Resource Protection, WASO, with the cooperation and support of Delaware Water Gap NRA.

--- ### ---