A festivalgoer was killed outside a popular country music festival in Utah when she was struck by a piece of falling debris from a nearby construction site while fleeing from the intense weather.
Ava Ahlander was outside Redwest Music Festival at the Utah State Fairpark in Salt Lake City when powerful gusts of wind ripped a large plank from a scaffold and sent it flying towards her, the Salt Lake Tribune reported.
The 23-year-old was evacuating the fairgrounds with other attendees and three friends to find shelter from the high winds when the massive plank fell about 30 feet as she and her friends stepped out of her car — crushing her and her vehicle.
She was rushed to the hospital with critical, life-threatening injuries, police said.
The young country music fan died from her injuries, a family representative told KSL on Monday.
Ahlander, who grew up in American Fork and had been living in Seattle, returned to the Beehive State with friends to enjoy the music festival and see Post Malone, her uncle, Bobby Ahlander wrote in a heartbreaking Facebook post.
“She just always loved having fun. It was really fun to be around her,” he told KSL.
“Honestly, it’s been excruciating. The grief and the sorrow, and of course, it’s such a big surprise; and it’s just such a huge loss.”
Her uncle said, as his niece and her friends stood outside the vehicle, the plank hit her in what he called a “freak accident.”
Though first responders managed to revive her at the scene, doctors later found she had no brain activity, he revealed.
Her family said she was kept on life support just long enough for them to say their goodbyes.
“Ava was a beautiful soul whose kindness, warmth, and adventurous spirit touched everyone around her,” family members wrote on a GoFundMe to help them with funeral and medical expenses, and to provide funds for her friends who witnessed the tragedy to attend grief counseling.
“Even in her passing, Ava continues to give the gift of life to others as an organ donor—a final act of generosity that truly reflects her caring nature and desire to help those in need.”
Ahlander’s love for music was matched only by her love for the outdoors, the ocean, and her life in the Pacific Northwest, her uncle Bobby revealed to KSL.
After graduating from American Fork High School, she headed to Oregon for college before settling in Seattle, where she’d fallen in love with her new surroundings.
“Ava was an absolute delight of a human being. Everyone loved her. She had the best smile,” her uncle wrote on Facebook.
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