Woman falls to her death trying to save teen on Three Sisters Falls hike in East San Diego County

6-21-17-Three Sisters Falls Generic
San Diego County Sheriff's Department

Update: The hiker was identified June 9 as a 48-year-old woman from Ladera Ranch. Read more here.

A woman was killed Thursday and a teenage girl was badly injured when they fell off a footpath alongside a waterfall in Descanso.

The adult was leading a group of four teens in a hike around Three Sisters Falls in the eastern San Diego County highlands when the girl slipped off the trail shortly before 10 a.m., according to the San Diego County Sheriff's Department.

"The woman supervising the teenagers attempted to keep the girl from going over the ledge," Lt. Jeff Ford said. "Unfortunately, both the woman and girl fell and suffered severe injuries."

The woman died at the scene, Ford said. Her name was withheld pending family notification.

Paramedics airlifted the girl to a hospital. Despite the seriousness of her injuries, she was expected to survive, Ford said.

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