Add The California Post on Google A heroic woman nearly died moments after she snapped the final photo of a young man who fell to his death off a 600ft waterfall in Yosemite National Park on Saturday afternoon.
Freesia Gaul, 20, ate lunch with her friends at the top of Nevada Falls before she decided to take a picture to capture the “beautiful day,” she told The Daily Mail.
As she peered through her camera lens, she noticed a man, identified as 22-year-old Josue Baires Alfaro, in the water.
The haunting final photo shows a baseball-cap-wearing Alfaro keeping his head above the water as he paddled against the current.
Several onlookers watched Alfaro as he struggled in the water, but Gaul recognized the life-threatening danger of the situation.
She knew he was stuck in a “strong undercurrent” and raced to save him fully clothed, utilizing her experience as a volunteer lifeguard.
Gaul knew the risk, but couldn’t stand to let the man go over.
“The number one rule in lifesaving is don’t create a second victim,” she told SFGATE. “But when you see someone like that, when you make direct eye contact with someone who you know is going to go over, you can’t turn around.”
In a matter of seconds, Gaul tried to swim to the man, but quickly realized the current’s strength.
“Once you get swept in, you can’t stand up,” Gaul said. “You’re fighting a mountain, and you’re just one swimmer.”
Her body kept hitting rocks, and she began to lose control as well. Gaul was seconds away from joining him in his fate.
“I basically thought the chances are zero,” she recalled. “I’m not making it out of here.”
But a bystander reached out a stick to her at the last second, and she grabbed on.
She held eye contact with a terrified Alfaro, who she believed knew he wasn’t going to make it.
He went over the edge of the nearly 600-foot waterfall, despite Gaul’s heroic effort. She escaped with her life and some minor injuries.
Gaul hoped he could have survived the long fall, but the Mariposa County Sheriff’s Office later confirmed his death. The National Park Service is investigating the incident.
The young woman could do little but help Alfaro’s family, who she said were “inconsolable.”
Gaul helped the family pack Alfaro’s things, which were found on the beach next to the water. It’s unclear what he was doing in the dangerous current.
She carried the weight of Alfaro’s death with her to a park bathroom, where she broke down in tears.
Alfaro was just “a hand away” she said.
“My friends and I started walking back to the base of the trail to go home, I’d cried briefly in the bathroom out of guilt, as it felt like he was only a hand away and if I’d tried harder I could’ve saved him,” she stated.
The tragic lesson for Gaul is that her actions came so close to saving the man, but could also have added to the death toll, she said.
“The line between brave and reckless is a fuzzy one. I’ve had to see many incidents before and know when things are about to go wrong, it keeps you always on alert,” she said.
“Seconds can be the deciding factor between life and death, and in a split second like that, all I could do was act.”
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