El Paso.- A hiker who was reported missing was found dead along the Ron Coleman Trail in McKelligon Canyon, an El Paso Fire Department spokesman said.
Fort Bliss has identified the hiker, who died Thursday, Aug. 15, in the Franklin Mountains, as Master Sergeant Benito Canales, 39.
Canales’ body was found around 1:45 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 15, after an acquaintance reported the hiker had not returned and was missing after hiking in McKelligon Canyon, said Enrique Dueñas-Aguilar, spokesman for the El Paso Fire Department (EPFD).
The Combined Search and Rescue team, known as ComSAR, located the deceased hiker about 200 yards up the mountain from the Ron Coleman Trailhead in the canyon, authorities said.
ComSAR’s mountain rescue team, made up of specially trained police officers and firefighters, recovered the body and descended with it shortly before 3 p.m. in temperatures of 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8 degrees Celsius).
The death is under investigation by the El Paso Police Department and the medical examiner’s office, which will determine the cause of death.
Fire Department pickup trucks, a 4×4 vehicle, ambulances, police SUVs and an EPFD mobile command unit were at the scene in the canyon, located near Alabama Street in north-central El Paso.
Following the tragedy, the Noncommissioned Officer Leadership Center of Excellence and the Sergeants Major Academy issued the following statement:
“It is with great sadness that the Noncommissioned Officer Leadership Center of Excellence and the Sergeants Major Academy can confirm that the Sergeant Major of the United States Army.”
He added that Benito Canales was a combat veteran and a graduate of Class 73 of the Sergeants Major Academy in McKinney, Texas.
“We respectfully ask for your sincere prayers for the Canales family during this time of mourning,” the military institution said.
This is believed to be the first death in a mountain search and rescue operation this summer. This summer has been unusually hot, with temperatures at or above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8 degrees Celsius), about 5 degrees warmer than the average of 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 degrees Celsius) for this time of year in El Paso.
That same part of McKelligon Canyon has seen hiking deaths in the past. In 2016, a 21-year-old El Paso man fell to his death while hiking off-trail near the Ron Coleman Trail, which is described as a strenuous trail.
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