Tourist Dies After Slipping At Yosemite Waterfall

Bridalveil Fall, Yosemite National Park, California. Pixabay

A tourist has died after slipping on wet boulders below a waterfall in Yosemite National Park in California.

Lucian Miu, 21, died at a hospital on July 31, after slipping at Bridalveil Fall at the weekend, reported ABC. Miu had left the path and headed past the warning signs onto the rocks close to the base of the fall.

Yosemite National Parks said in an Aug. 3 statement that there had been three “significant” incidents that week at the slippery bases of waterfalls, including one fatality.

“Two incidents occurred at the base of Bridalveil Fall, the first on Monday, July 29, and the second on Wednesday, July 31,” wrote the park in a statement. “In both cases, the subjects hiked to the viewing platform below Bridalveil Fall and then left the established trail to scramble up the boulder field toward the base of the waterfall, bypassing signs that advise against leaving the trail.”

The two both slipped off wet boulders, falling about 20 feet.

“Rescuers donned climbing helmets and approach shoes with sticky rubber soles, scrambled up through the dangerous terrain to the subjects, and provided advanced life support medical care. Yosemite Helitack, using the park helicopter (H-551), extracted the subjects by short-haul and flew them to El Capitan Meadow, where they were transferred to ambulances.”

The fatal incident was later identified by local media as involving Miu, a Romanian tourist, who died in hospital.

The following day, a third incident occurred at the base of Lower Yosemite Fall, according to the statement from the park authorities. “The subject slipped off a boulder and fell into Yosemite Creek, at one point becoming trapped underwater between several rocks.”