San Jose couple killed in rockslide at Yosemite National Park identified

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Friday, December 30, 2022
FILE - Glacier Point trail in the Yosemite National Park, Calif.
Tammy Webber/AP Photo-AP

MARIPOSA COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- Authorities have identified two people who were killed in a rockslide on Tuesday morning in Yosemite National Park.

Officials say 51-year-old Georgios Theocharous and 35-year-old Ming Yan, a couple from San Jose, were killed in a rockslide around 9 am on El Portal Road near Big Oak Flat Road.

The couple's rental truck was hit by 185 tons of rock that had fallen from 1,000 feet above El Portal Road.

The truck was pushed off the road by the rocks and landed on the embankment of the Merced River.

A portion of El Portal Road near the Highway 140 entrance to Yosemite was closed for several hours after the rockslide but has since reopened.

The cause of the rockslide is still under investigation.