I heard a woman screaming at the top of her lungs and I knew something was wrong. “It made me sick to my stomach when I figured out what had happened”.
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The minors’ names, ages and hometowns were not being released Friday, the park service added. Don Neubacher said in a statement.
“This is of course a awful tragedy, but right now there’s nothing standing out about why this particular limb fell”, said park spokesman Scott Gediman.
The usually happy summer season at California’s bustling, beloved Yosemite National Park has been dampened after a fallen tree branch killed two young hikers and a campground was closed due to plague in squirrels. Los Angeles was home to the last urban plague epidemic, which took place between 1924 and 1925.
The youths had been staying at the centrally located Upper Pines Campground in Yosemite Valley. Health officials find plague-infected animals every year, mostly in the state’s mountains and foothill regions.
Plague is carried by squirrels, chipmunks and other wild rodents and their fleas.
Two of the children were critically injured but were recovering, authorities said.
As for the Crane Flat Campground, after four nights of flea treatments, reopened on Friday, according to the California Department of Public Health.
“Plague is endemic”, Kramer said.
Set on almost 750,000 acres in Northern California, Yosemite is one of the most popular and beloved sites in the U.S. National Park system. They typically involve climbing or hiking incidents in the rugged Sierra terrain.
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What led to the limb falling, and its exact size, were not immediately revealed. Reporter: Park rangers arriving at the campground to provide medical help – The tree branch fell and struck them and, unfortunately, they died. The minors were asleep in their tents when a limb from a black oak tree came crashing down.
