New York Officials Seek Changes After Catskill Hiker Deaths

Local officials in New York are calling for safety changes at a popular waterfall in the Catskills after two women died there on separate occasions this summer.

Hunter Town Supervisor Daryl Legg tells the Kingston Daily Freeman that the state Department of Environmental Conservation is making some short-term fixes at 260-foot-high Kaaterskill Falls. He said the agency had a ranger near the lower falls to talk to visitors.

Concerns were raised about safety at Kaaterskill Falls and support for emergency responders after two deaths this summer. In July, 23-year-old Ariana Bedka of Wappingers Falls fell to her death on the Kaaterskill Falls trail. A month earlier, 54-year-old Josephine Torlish of Beacon fell and suffered fatal injuries.

DEC spokesman Rick Georgeson told the Freeman the agency expects to have safety fencing installed by fall.