Rockfall on Yosemite's El Capitan injures 1 day after fatal slide

Sept. 28 (UPI) -- One day after a rockfall on Yosemite National Park's El Capitan killed a park visitor, a new rock slide Thursday on the famous granite monolith injured someone else.

Yosemite National Park warned of Thursday's rockfall at 4:15 p.m. on Twitter. In a subsequent tweet, the park called it a "larger" rockfall, though it wasn't clear if it was comparing the slide to one that killed a tourist Wednesday.

The National Park Service released more details about that rockfall Thursday, saying it was the first of seven slides that struck El Capitan above Yosemite Valley on Wednesday.

In all, the slides weathered away 1,300 tons of stone.

The park service withheld the names of the victims, a British couple visiting the park to climb its renowned rock faces. The two tourists weren't, however, climbing El Capitan at the time of the slide.

The male victim died and the female victim suffered serious injuries and was flown out of the park.

The park usually has about 80 rockfalls annually, but Wednesday's incident was the first to kill someone there since 1999.

Larger rockfall on El Capitan today, with one injury. Debris reached a road, so detour in place; drive with caution in Yosemite Valley. pic.twitter.com/wciTNR5SkT

- Yosemite National Pk (@YosemiteNPS) September 29, 2017