death on the Falling Waters Trail

We have hiked the Falling Waters Trail many times.
--pws

Tourist's kin asks if death had to happen

Shu Qin was struck by a falling boulder that had split from a ledge. The 28-year-old was taken to Littleton Regional Hospital, about 20 miles away, where she was pronounced dead.

By Milton J. Valencia Globe Staff / May 11, 2008

Relatives of a Chinese tourist who was killed Thursday hiking in New Hampshire's White Mountains in what authorities called a rare accident are questioning whether better warnings about the dangers of the trail, or a quicker medical response, could have prevented the death.

Shu Qin, a 28-year-old on vacation from Shanghai, was hiking on the Falling Waters Trail in Franconia when a boulder split from a ledge and came crashing 40 feet onto her.

She was still conscious in her husband's arms as family members sought medical help in the isolation of the wilderness after the 2:30 p.m. incident.

"She was begging him, in Chinese, 'My husband, my husband, help me, help me,' " Jeff A. Gruneich, a brother-in-law from Wellesley who was with Qin when the boulder fell, said yesterday.

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