CHLORIDE, Ariz. (AP) — The desert hillsides are known as a risky playground, where a derelict mine shaft swallowed two sisters out riding an all-terrain vehicle, killing one over the Labor Day weekend.
"I don't go anywhere off a trail here," said Bill Keller, who has lived in Chloride for 10 years and goes ATV riding in the hills regularly. "I am totally amazed that it hasn't happened before."
The terrain and clumps of brush concealed the mine near a dirt road in the hills visible from the home of 13-year-old Rikki Howard and her 10-year-old sister, Casie Hicks.
The girls were riding an ATV early Saturday evening when they plunged into the 125-foot-deep mine shaft. Their father was riding ahead of them and didn't see them fall. He alerted authorities after they vanished, but the darkness hindered the search.
Early Sunday, Rikki was found dead in the shaft and her younger sister was taken to University Medical Center in Las Vegas, where she was upgraded to serious condition Monday.
Residents estimate there are dozens of abandoned mines in the hills surrounding this rural community about 200 miles northwest of Phoenix and 80 miles southeast of Las Vegas.
"A lot of them you can't tell they're there until you're right on them," Agee said, riding through town on a mud-spattered four-wheeler.
The mine where the girls were found had no signs or barriers and is believed to be inactive.
"It's like a serpent's mouth waiting to swallow you up," Johnson said at the site.
Ownership of the shaft had yet to be determined, according to the Arizona State Mine Inspector's office.What a shame for children so young," she was the most outgoing person i knew and very easy going she loved kids and being with family and friends she really loved the camera specially at school why god did u take her from us we needed her more she was to young
