A 24-year-old University of Kentucky student died after falling off a cliff while hiking on Monday, authorities said.
The woman, identified by the university as second-year medical student Gabby Smith, was found Tuesday in the Auxier Ridge area of the Red River Gorge, the Lexington Herald Ledger reported.
Rescue workers were able to locate Smith using GPS coordinates obtained by pinging her phone and watch, authorities said.
She was found dead at the bottom of a 150-foot cliff, according to Powell County Search and Rescue.
“We did not get the results that we wanted,” the rescue group said on its Facebook page.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with her family and friends during this difficult time.”
University of Kentucky College of Medicine Dean Robert DiPaola said in a statement obtained by KMIZ that the school is “deeply saddened to share the news that Gabby Smith, a second-year medical student here at the University of Kentucky, passed away while on a hike at Red River Gorge.”
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to her family during this difficult time,” he added. “Gabby was a kind, devoted student, and we will miss having her on our campus. This is a tragic loss for our college community, especially for our medical students. We are here to offer support in whatever way that we can, and counseling services are available to our students.”
Lisa Johnson, of the search and rescue group, said three hikers who had fallen into the gorge were rescued over the past week.
Another person was rescued after falling nearly 60 feet off a sheer cliff in the Auxier Ridge area Monday night, officials said.
That hiker was hospitalized with injuries to his spine and pelvis.
The team urged all hikers to take extra precautions after several days of on-and-off heavy rainfall.
“You have trees that are coming down right now, limbs that are falling, the mud you slide in the mud on the trails and if you’re on the rocks, you’re going to slide, you’re going to slip and what I try to tell people is stay away from the edge,” Johnson said.
