Woman hiking on closed Yosemite trail dies after being struck by falling rock and ice

A Cupertino, Calif., woman who was hiking in Yosemite National Park died Sunday after being struck by falling rock and ice, park officials said.

Xuan Wang, 56, was hiking on Mist Trail, a popular path to the top of Vernal Fall that is closed this time of year because of icy conditions, when she was struck about 12:30 p.m., park officials said in a news release Monday.

“Wang ignored the signs, went around the gate and the incident happened on the trail leading to Vernal Fall,” the news release said.

“She succumbed to her injuries soon thereafter,” officials said.

Park officials are investigating.

The fatal rockfall is not the first at the park.

In September 2017, a British tourist was killed and his wife was seriously injured in a large rockfall from El Capitan. The next day, a second slide estimated to be 10 times the size of the previous day’s fall struck, injuring one person.

alejandra.reyesvelarde@latimes.com

Twitter: @r_valejandra