A Cal State Long Beach alumna died Tuesday in a New Mexico police chopper crash, according to The Associated Press.
Rescue teams found the body of Megumi Yamamoto, a 26-year-old physics graduate student at the University of New Mexico, as well as the pilot, Sgt. Andy Tingwall, on Thursday. The Daily Lobo, UNM’s student newspaper, reported that she was hiking on Mt. Baldy near Santa Fe.
According to AP, Yamamoto was hiking with her boyfriend on Tuesday. After they became separated, she called for help.
The article said that the chopper flew in Tuesday night, “but as they lifted off the ground, the chopper’s tail rotor apparently clipped a tree, causing it to crash and tumble down the slope.”
Tingwall and Yamamoto were ejected from the helicopter, while the other officer on the plane remained strapped inside, which factored into his survival, the article said.
Yamamoto was a Japan native who had lived in the U.S. since 2003, according to the article. She had been studying physics at UNM since January and earned her bachelor’s degree from CSULB.