16-year-old girl dies after falling from North Carolina waterfall
LAKE TOXAWAY, N.C. -- A 16-year-old girl died at a North Carolina waterfall on the Fourth of July. CBS affiliate WSPA-TV in Spartanburg, South Carolina, reported the girl fell from Rainbow Falls in Transylvania County around noon.
Firefighters told the station that the girl was identified as H'money Siu, 16, of Charlotte.
The waterfall is about 125 feet high.
Katie Hall with North Carolina State Parks said the girl went over the falls at Gorges State Park in the Pisgah National Forest.
The teen was hiking with a group of family and friends when she and an 11-year-old girl slipped, the Lake Toxaway Volunteer Fire Department told WSPA-TV.
The younger girl was rescued by family members.
"This water's very dangerous," fire Chief Carmon West told WSPA-TV. "... When you go over the top, you're done."
It took several hours to recover the body. The U.S. Forest Service also responded.
News outlets report there have been at least six deaths at waterfalls in western North Carolina this year.