A heavily-pregnant school teacher has tragically died while hiking in Greece. Clara Thomann, 33, had been travelling through Plakias, Crete, with her partner Elliott Finn when she fell and died during a hike on December 23. Clara, a teacher at the Dos Pueblos High School in California, was six months pregnant at the time of her death.
According to sources from the area, Clara slipped and fell 50 metres down a gorge on a hiking trail near the Preveli Monastery in the Rethymno region. She was said to have been pronounced brain dead less than a week after the fall, which caused major injuries to her chest and skull. Clara tragically lost her unborn child in the fall also.
Her family, who chose to donate her organs after her death, had visited the country before her death, according to The Greek Reporter. Tributes have since flooded in for the school teacher, with Veronica Katz writing on the CaringBridge page that she "loved helping and teaching others".
Veronica added: "Clara loved this Thomann family motto. Making ‘excuses to gather and celebrate’ with family and friends for whatever minor or major reason was something that Clara loved." Another tribute reads: "My son was her student and she was his favorite teacher.
"Starting high school is nerve wracking having her as his first period as a freshman made it so much more bearable. I appreciated the leadership she showed in her classroom and how she made physics fun and interesting and the love that each student felt from her. She will be missed but never forgotten.".
