Massive Redwood Falls And Kills Minnesota Hiker At California Park

A hiker at a California park was killed on Christmas Eve when a redwood tree fell on him.

A Marin county coroner and a park spokesman said that 28-year-old Subhradeep Dutta of Edina, Minnesota was out on a hike in Muir Woods National Monument Park with two other people when a redwood tree, measuring 200 feet tall and 4 feet in diameter, collapsed and pinned him down.

reported that first responders found Dutta with serious injuries and “unconscious and lifeless” under the tree where he was later pronounced dead at the scene by 5 P.M.

The other two hikers who were walking the marked dirt trail with Dutta were relatively safe with a woman treated for injuries sustained from falling debris and another man was uninjured.

AP News described redwood trees to have shallow root systems that extend 100 feet from the base and that they thrive in moist coastal climates where their roots intertwine with other redwoods.

The tree that killed Dutta was one of the five trees that fell down that day.

Alex Shephard, a hiker, told KPIX-TV that he and his mother heard a “colossal noise” right about the time the tree fell on Dutta and thought that it was an earthquake.

“We were just finishing our hike when we heard this colossal noise, maybe 250, 300 feet away, and watched a huge redwood fall from the hillside down to the trail below,” Shephard said.

The tree fell in the aftermath of a series of storms in the past two weeks, The Guardian reported.

“This is a very rare, an isolated event that may have occurred due to wet ground from recent winter storms, around the roots of the tree,” a park spokesman, Charles Strickfaden said. “The National Park Service extends its thoughts and prayers to all those involved.”

The park, which is located north of San Francisco, is famous for its towering trees and had almost a million visitors each year.

It remained open on Thursday and the areas affected by the debris were the only ones that were closed to the public.