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A group of hikers, including a couple reported missing on Sunday, made an arduous escape from a flooded slot canyon in Zion National Park late Tuesday.
Zion spokesman David Eaker said that contrary to earlier information the National Park Service had released, the nine hikers were not airlifted by helicopters from Nevada's Nellis Air Force Base overnight.
"There was some confusion in the information we had initially," Eaker said, noting that while two Blackhawk helicopters from the base did assist the search for the group, the hikers actually escaped danger on their own.
The hikers, using rope relays, finally reached the trailhead of the left fork of North Creek about 10 p.m. Tuesday after being delayed for several days by rain- and snowmelt-fed floodwaters in the Subway slot canyon.
"The end result is the same, everyone's out and fine," Eaker said. "No one was injured. They were a little beat up and tired and cold, but no hospitalization was required."
The group was debriefed by park rangers and allowed to leave late Tuesday, he added.
A woman who identified herself as Evgenia Buzulukova came out of the canyon about 9 p.m. Tuesday and notified park rangers of the group's predicament. Buzulukova, 25, of Roy, and Jonathon Wilson, 28, of Portland, Ore., had been reported missing last weekend in an area of the popular southern Utah scenic tourist attraction, which has been inundated by spring runoff.