A 29-year-old Los Angeles native living in Northern California was killed by a wayward sequoia branch while hiking in Yosemite National Park earlier this month.
The tragedy unfolded July 19 as Angela Lin and her boyfriend, David Hua, were hiking through two dozen or so giant sequoias in the park’s Tuolumne Grove, about a mile from the parking lot, SFGATE reported.
Hua said they heard a loud cracking sound from above and that branches began to fall from above.
“One big branch struck Angela, and then there were a bunch of smaller ones directly behind me,” he told the outlet.
After bracing for impact, Hua said he opened his eyes and saw Lin laying on her back, with blood pooling around her head. He immediately called emergency services and administered CPR until a responding park ranger took over.
Paramedics declared the 29-year-old dead at the scene, telling her boyfriend that she was likely killed instantly by the branch.
While Tuolumne Grove was closed for about a week, family members, friends and loved ones have been frustrated with the lack of information provided by the park service, which has not issued a statement on the fatal accident.
A Yosemite public affairs official would only tell SFGATE “the incident remains under investigation.”
After the unimaginable loss, Hua expressed concerns about maintenance, awareness of potentially dangerous trees and safety on the popular trails.
Described as a kind, sincere person who had genuine and deep connections with others, the 29-year-old attended UC Berkeley and, later, the University of Texas at Austin, before ultimately taking a job at Google as a software engineer and living in Mountain View.
In her memory, a charitable fundraiser has been organized, with proceeds benefitting KQED Inc., a PBS member station in the Bay Area.
Lin will be laid to rest in August in Whittier in a funeral service open only to invited family and friends.
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