Second Body Of Trio Swept Over Vernal Fall At Yosemite National Park Recovered, Identified

Nearly five months after three people were swept over 317-foot Vernal Fall in Yosemite National Park officials have recovered and identified the body of a second victim. Officials also were waiting on the positive identification of yet another body recovered this past Saturday.

Park officials say the body of Ninos Yacoub, 27, of Turlock, California, was found about 100 yards below the Vernal Fall footbridge on November 29 by a ranger. On Monday they said the body had been positively identified as that of Mr. Yacoub.

Mr. Yacoub had been missing since July 19 when he, Hormiz David, 22, of Modesto, California, and Ramina Badal, a 21-year-old woman from Manteca, California, were seen being swept over the waterfall. Mr. David's body had been recovered about two weeks after the accident.

The area where the three were swept away is signed as a dangerous area, and the group had crossed a metal guardrail placed there to keep visitors away from the fast-moving water, the park noted in a release.

The body recovered Saturday was found in the same general area as Mr. Yacoub's. Positive
identification has not been made, but should be within the next several days, officials said. They did not indicate the gender of that body.