A tourist hiking through Yosemite National Park’s Mist Trail noticed something unusual on Sunday. People in “yellow shirts,” the hiker posted on Reddit, “rolled a body bag down the granite steps on an off-road stretcher. We all had to step to the side so they could make it […] one of the most chilling things I’ve ever witnessed.” But the encounter—the apparent aftermath of the death of a 23-year-old who fell over the park’s 594-foot (181-meter) Nevada Fall on Saturday—has only officially been confirmed as “an incident” by the U.S. National Park Service (NPS). This seemingly needless air of mystery surrounding the event appears to be an intentional new policy, judging from an internal memo from the park service’s overseers with the U.S. Department of the Interior, as first reported by the Washington Post. The new internal guidance reportedly states that Interior agencies “shall not confirm a death” nor “the severity of injuries” following incidents—a departure from past policies that might increase the risk of fatal accidents among park patrons, according to NPS staff who spoke with the Post. The policy allegedly delayed an announcement on the deaths of three visitors to Grand Canyon National Park this month, “apparent heat-related deaths” attributed to sweltering days above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius), as three anonymous park staffers told the Post.