The gorge in Hell’s Gate National Park, Kenya, has been closed to the public with immediate effect due to continuing rains.

The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) has said that seven people (five Kenyans, a local tour guide and a non-resident foreigner) were caught in the flash flood on Sunday, September 1, in Hell's Gate National Park.

“Six bodies of the flash flood victims have been recovered, leaving one tourist missing. The search and rescue operation continue as we reach out to next of kin to share details of [this] sad incident and plan together [the] next course of action,” said the KWS official twitter page.

Hell's Gate is a popular hiking and cycling spot for tourists and locals and is known for its cliffs and gorges carved by a prehistoric lake.

“Since the last similar tragedy in 2012, we have created clearly marked emergency exists along the whole gorge as escape routes in case of danger like the flash floods.”

The tour guides have also been trained to detect storm water flowing downstream towards the gorge. Every group is usually accompanied by experienced guides who are able to alert tourists of impending emergencies and direct them to exit points.

— KWS (@kwskenya) September 2, 2019