Tree falls on tent in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, killing 7-year-old
A family camping trip to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park turned tragic after a tree toppled onto their tent and killed a 7-year-old girl inside, according to National Park Services.
Rangers responded around 12:30 a.m. Wednesday to the Elkmont Campground, which is located on the Tennessee side of the national park, between Townsend and Gatlinburg. When they arrived on the scene, they found a tent crushed by a large red maple about 2 feet in diameter.
No one else inside the tent at the time, including the girl’s father and two other siblings, was injured in the incident.
“Dying because of a tree falling on you is incredibly rare in and of itself, this is the first recorded time that we have ever had anybody die because of a tree that fell on their tent in Great Smoky Mountains National Park,” Dana Soehn, a national park spokesperson, told WVLT.
Soehn said 11 incidents involving fallen trees have occurred at the park.
“The other ones were primarily related to a motor vehicle accident where a tree fell while somebody was driving along one of our scenic roadways, or it was related to somebody hiking along the trail,” she said.
Park officials did not provide further details, but they said the campsite would be closed in the coming days amid an investigation.
