Hiker killed by falling tree at Great Smoky Mountains park
GATLINBURG, Tenn. — A woman from Texas has been killed by a tree knocked down by high winds in Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee.
Park spokesman Mike Litterst said Saturday that 42-year-old Laila Jiwani was hiking with her husband and three children on Porter Creek Trail on Thursday when the tree fell.
Litterst said one of her children was injured. The spokesman says the 6-year-old was airlifted to a hospital with non-life threatening injures.
In a Facebook post, Jiwani’s husband Taufiq wrote that their son suffered a broken leg and superficial head injuries during a “simple/safe” hike.
Jiwani says doctors told him his wife took most of the impact and saved her son. He wrote that part of the tree “fell from the sky.”
Funeral services are scheduled Wednesday in Dallas.
