![\"Chandi](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1792474814_462_eed4f53d-7899-4f25-b735-209d3a8d8374_1583091193.jpg\")
<\/a>CONNELLSVILLE, Pa. \u2014<\/p>\nA woman died after being pinned by a falling rock while biking with her husband on the Great Allegheny Passage trail in Connellsville, Fayette County, officials said.<\/p>\n
The man was able to free himself and was flown by medical helicopter to a hospital, while the woman was trapped underneath the rock and died at the scene.<\/p>\n
Fayette County Coroner Dr. Bob Baker identified the woman as Gail Luck, 79, of Germantown, Wisconsin.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce we got there, we saw Mrs. Luck that was trapped underneath a very large rock at that time that had fallen onto the trail,\u201d Baker said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve never seen anything like this before,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
New Haven Hose Company fire Chief Jeffery Layton described the complex efforts to remove the rock debris and get to the couple.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis required about every tool of the trade that we had on our heavy rescue,\u201d Layton said. \u201cWe encountered lots of trees and brush that we had to cut away to get to the gentleman. Then we used airbags and cribbing and lifted one end of the rock to remove him so EMS could treat and transport.\u201d<\/p>\n
Luck\u2019s husband was flown to a Pittsburgh hospital. Crews then used multiple airbags to lift the rock entirely to reach Gail Luck, who did not survive.<\/p>\n
Layton is urging the public to stay away from the slide zone.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease stay away from this area because it is very unstable. We had calls over the weekend where people were on those rocks crawling around, and that is very unstable. That rock face is still unstable. And we urge you to please stay away,\u201d Layton said.<\/p>\n
Baker, an avid cyclist, described the trail as typically very active, especially in the fall, and noted the rarity of the incident.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s far off the trail, so it just seems like such a rare incidence to see something like this. And the amount of volume of rock that fell was just unbelievable,\u201d Baker said.<\/p>\n
Pittsburgh\u2019s Action News 4 has reached out to DCNR and the Greater Allegheny Passage Conservancy.<\/p>\n
Officials react<\/p>\n
A statement posted to the Great Allegheny Passage website<\/a> said, “We are absolutely devastated. Our hearts are with the family and loved ones of the bicyclist who lost her life, and extend our hopes for recovery to the bicyclist who was injured.”<\/p>\n Connellsville Mayor Greg Lincoln wrote in a Facebook post<\/a>, “Today a terrible accident occurred on the bike trail right outside the city.”<\/p>\n He continued, saying, “The couple and their family are in the thoughts and prayers of my family and everyone in Connellsville. I would like to thank the first responders and everyone who responded to this accident to help. I ask everyone to please keep them in your thoughts and prayers too.”<\/p>\n Hearst OwnedWTAE\/Jonathan Winston<\/p>\n A Portion of the GAP Trail is currently closed off<\/p>\n The trail is now closed between Ohiopyle and Connellsville. Shuttle service will be available from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. between the two markers. The cost is $20 per person.<\/p>\n The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources is leading the investigation.<\/p>\n Download the WTAE app<\/a> to stay connected with breaking news. Sign up for our email newsletters<\/a> to get breaking news in your inbox.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The woman’s husband was also flown to the hospital by helicopter CONNELLSVILLE, Pa. \u2014 A woman died after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":310335,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[127012,20411,17147,1510,2298,127011,127010,6111,1399,37420,6439,28,30,29,13293,2581,10254,78],"class_list":["post-310334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-76-year-old-woman","tag-connellsville","tag-coroner","tag-family","tag-fayette-county","tag-florida-bicyclist","tag-greater-allegheny-gap-trail","tag-hospital","tag-man","tag-medical-helicopter","tag-official","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-rock","tag-scene","tag-wtae","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=310334"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310334\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/310335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1792474816_837_9c25d245-8754-457a-b64d-da6fc8cb79a0.jpg\")
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