Wednesday, July 30, 2025 - A 29-year-old Google software engineer was k!lled in a freak accident at Yosemite National Park when a branch from a giant sequoia tree fell and struck her on the head.
Angela Lin, who worked as a software engineer for about six
years at Salesforce and then Google, was hiking on July 19 with her boyfriend
and two friends on a trail that wound through the Tuolumne Grove of towering
sequoias.
Suddenly a large crack sounded from above, and two seconds
later, several branches from one of the famously massive trees came tumbling
down, according to Lin’s boyfriend, David Hua.
“One big branch struck Angela, and then there were a bunch
of smaller ones directly behind me,” Hua told SFGate.
As the branches fell, Hua said he closed his eyes and by the
time he opened them, Lin was sprawled face up on the ground with blood pooling
around her head.
Hua said he called 911 and performed CPR until a park ranger
arrived and took over.
An ambulance eventually made it to the scene, but Lin was
never placed inside.
Emergency personnel later said that the falling branch had
likely k!lled his girlfriend instantly, Hua said.
“It was just unimaginable that something like this could
occur,” Hua said with a shaky voice, according to SFGate.
“On such a popular trail, too.”
Tuolumne Grove, the area where Lin and her group had been
hiking, was closed to visitors for about a week after her de@th.
Yosemite public affairs officer Scott Gediman told SFGate
the incident is still under investigation.
Hua said Lin’s loved ones have not been able to learn more
from the park service, and the frustrating experience has pushed them to go to
the media.
“We are seeking more information from the park service
regarding this incident, especially around trail safety, maintenance and
awareness of problematic trees on popular trails, and future prevention of
similar incidents,” Hua said.
Traumatized bystanders have also been frantically searching
for information on Lin, with one person creating a Reddit post titled “Tuolumne
Grove Incident 7/19” in hopes of finding out whether Lin survived.
“I am a tourist, but was on the scene of an extremely tragic
freak accident in the area trying to provide [aid], and it has been haunting
me. I can’t stop thinking about it and can’t find any news articles updating
about the situation,” the user wrote in a post on the Reddit thread.
“It hits so so hard because they were doing nothing wrong or
careless… Life can be so cruel.”
0 Comments