Third hiker swept over Yosemite's Vernal Fall identified

More than four months of uncertainty for families of three valley hikers swept over Vernal Fall in July came to a sad conclusion Tuesday with the confirmation that the body of the last of them had been found.

Rangers identified remains found Saturday as those of Ramina Badal.

A post on the Badal family Facebook page, created after the accident, reads, "The family of Ramina Tara Ba-dal announce with deep regret and sorrow, her unification with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We love you Ramina."

Badal, 21, of Manteca, fell into the Merced River on July 19 with Ninos Yacoub, 27, of Turlock and Hormiz "Nenos" David, 22, of Modesto. All three went over the 317-foot waterfall.

Searchers recovered Da-vid's body Aug. 5 and Yacoub's body last week. Saturday afternoon, a ranger found the third body about 120 yards below the Vernal Fall footbridge, about a half-mile from the base of the falls.

Rangers said they sent the bodies to the Mariposa County Sheriff's Department for identification. Stanislaus County Sheriff Adam Christianson said his office performed the work at the request of Mariposa County Sheriff Doug Binnewies,

"We enlisted the services of our forensic odontologist, Dr. Garry Found," Christianson said. Dental identification can be completed more quickly than DNA testing, which can take up to three days.

"We wanted to notify the family and bring them some closure," Christianson said. "We sped up this process with the resources we had."

A memorial service for Badal and Yacoub is planned at 10 a.m. Dec. 17 at Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East, St. George Parish, 3900 Brickit Court, Ceres. A reception will follow at Larsa Hall in Turlock.

Badal's family members didn't want to talk Tuesday but pointed to a Web site their family created that includes an eyewitness account of what happened July 19.

Metra Azar-Salem, who did not know any of the hikers, said she saw Yacoub slip into the water and Ba-dal try to save him, then also fall into the river.

"From this point on they both continued to swim against the violent rapid waves of water that were coming towards them," she wrote. "A few times they looked back to see how close they were to the actual fall."

Azar-Salem said she didn't see David fall in, as she was concentrating so hard on Badal and Yacoub.

She said the incident shook her and her children, who were with her. Later, she said, she sought out Ba-dal's family.

"I visited the home of Ra-mina because I wanted to tell her mother that her daughter was a hero," Azar-Salem wrote. "She had courage and tried to help a man in need."

The Badal family's memorial Web site can be found at www.wix.com/raminabadalfamily/raminabadalfamily.

This story was originally published December 6, 2011 at 10:35 PM with the headline "Third hiker swept over Yosemite's Vernal Fall identified."