i couldn t process why they were in the water when i first saw it, you know, because the current was moving so fast. and i saw two that were holding onto each other and one that was alone floating through the current, and the reason why i looked is this woman was screaming and running along the edge of the water. reporter: the woman skraoeplg, thosscreaming, thosed friends of the two you heard going over the falls. here is the park ranger talking about the danger. the river that is below vernal falls, a very, very rough portion of the river. there are large boulders, a lot of water flowing through there. reporter: as she said right there all the water going through there, that water, by the way, down below really is treacherous, filled with rocks. they still, by the way, martha, have not located any of the three bodies, still searching. martha: awful, awful story, and people need to obviously take those signs very seriously in
[the sound of rushing water ] reporter: that is the water. a group of ten hikers go all the way to the top. three of those, a woman and two men ignored the warning sign, stepped over the guardrail, even ignored calls from their fellow hikers to come back. they were standing on a rock-like you see there in the middle of that flowing water, and the woman slipped and fell. one of the men tried to save her, he slipped and fell. the third man tried to save them both, they were all in the water in seconds, just 25 feet from the edge you see right there of the waterfall, and they went over. listen. i saw the man s eyes as he was going over the waterfall, and that was devastating. i couldn t process why they were in the water when i first saw it, you know, because the current was moving so fast. and i saw two that were holding onto each other and one that was alone floating through the current, and the reason why i looked is this woman was
photos, playing in the water. one of the males lost his footing, started to slide down. the second male tried to rescue him. and also lost his footing. then the third person, the female, did. and ununrtunately it was a chain reaction of events and all three were swept over vernal falls. i couldn t process why they were in the water whenen first saw it. you know, it was because the current was moving so fast. two, they were holding onto each other, and one was alone floating through the current. the reason why i looked was this woman was screaming and running along the edge of the water. reporter: while search and rescue crews scoured the water, searching for the hikers bodies. visitors we talked with expressed their concerns and frustrations. it s just sad. when people know the water s high. and think they re not going to be the ones, it s safe out there. and it s not. reporter: so far this year, there have been six