29-year-old Google engineer dies in freak accident on popular Yosemite trail

New York Post

14 hours ago

A 29-year-old Google software engineer was killed in a freak accident at Yosemite National Park this month 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.
4 Angela Lin, a 29-year-old software engineer at Google.
LinkedIn/Angela Lin
'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 killed his girlfriend instantly, Hua said.
'It was just unimaginable that something like this could occur,' Hua said over the phone 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 death.
Yosemite public affairs officer Scott Gediman told SFGate the incident is still under investigation.
Park officials did not immediately respond to The Post's request for comment.
4 Tuolumne Grove was closed to visitors for about a week after Angela Lin's death.
Getty Images
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.'
Though rare, Yosemite has seen several tragic, fatal accidents over the years.
4 Ellery Lake, located along Tioga Pass near Yosemite National Park's east entrance.
Getty Images
Last summer, college student Grace Rohloff slipped and fell 200 feet to her death from the Half Dome cables during a storm – just after telling her father: 'Dad, my shoes are so slippery.'
Australian hiker Harry Partington, 22, was crushed and killed by a falling tree in October last year on the park's Four Mile trail, which connects Yosemite Valley and Glacier Point.
In August 2015, two high school students asleep in a tent were killed by a falling oak tree limb.
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A concessions worker in 2012 died when a tree fell on his tent during a windstorm.
Lin's death was particularly bizarre, as she wasn't camped under a tree and there was no wind on the day she died, according to Hua.
'The sad thing is that Angela is the most cautious person you can be,' Hua said.
4 Though rare, the national park has seen several tragic, fatal accidents over the years.
Getty Images
'She is super careful. She stays on trails. She never goes off trails. So, usually when you hear about these incidents, someone is doing something dangerous, like playing in water or near a cliff or something.'
Hua, who had been close with Lin since they attended college together at UC Berkeley, called her death a 'devastating loss.'
Ian Cook, who met Lin in their dorm building at UC Berkeley, said Lin was a fast friend.
'Angela was obviously whip-smart, but she led with a simple and playful attitude. That mix of confidence and humility put folks around her at ease,' Cook told SFGate.
Research scientist Richard Zhang was in Lin's undergraduate lab, and said she stayed 'through the late nights before the paper deadline' and 'thoughtfully [treated] us to chocolate to keep our spirits up.'
After graduating with her master's degree from University of Texas at Austin, Lin worked in the Bay Area as an engineer at Google.
'We lost a loved and respected member of our team. We're very saddened by this tragedy, and our hearts are with their family and loved ones,' a Google spokesperson told The Post.