California Hiker Boulder_04022025_1
A woman was struck and killed while visiting a waterfall in Hawaii last month. YouTube/ABC 10News

A 26-year-old California woman died after she was crushed by a falling boulder on a popular hiking trail in Hawaii.

Gianna Buzzetta was standing in a pool at the bottom of the Makaleha Falls waterfall when a boulder dislodged from above and landed directly on her. Her boyfriend took her out of the water and ran for help.

Buzzetta was airlifted to a hospital where she later died but not before her parents had a chance to say goodbye.

"She was in nature. That was her element. She was with the love of her life," Buzzetta's mother, Caty, told ABC 10News. "In a glimpse of time, she had pure bliss, no one could take that form her or us. She was living in moment best she every had, and that's priceless."

Her mother told ABC 10News her daughter told her boyfriend, Connor, the day of the tragic incident that he had fulfilled her dreams and she had had the best day of her life.

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