(KTLA) – A schoolteacher from Santa Barbara County who was six months pregnant fell to her death while hiking on the Greek island of Crete late last month, according to multiple reports.

The tragic incident occurred on Dec. 23 while 33-year-old Clara Thomann, a science teacher at Dos Pueblos High School in Goleta, California, and her partner, Elliot Finn, had been traveling over the holiday, the Los Angeles Times reported.  

According to the Santa Barbara County news outlet Noozhawk, first responders and construction workers toiled for hours to pull Thomann, who plummeted 164 feet down a gorge, out of the area and rushed her to the hospital after Finn called for help.

The 33-year-old’s child died from the fall, while Thomann suffered severe fractures to her chest and skull. A Greek news outlet cited by The Times reported that she was pronounced dead six days later on Dec. 29.

Heartbroken family members said in a post on the website CaringBridge that Thomann’s injuries were “insurmountable” and that she had been declared brain dead, The Times reported.  

The science teacher, according to a report by the Greek Reporter, was a registered organ donor in the U.S., and family members who had traveled to be by her side honored her wish, allowing for the donation of her kidneys, liver and corneas to patients in need of transplants.  

“There are no words to describe the sadness we are all feeling,” Dos Pueblos Principal Bill Woodard told Noozhawk. “Ms. Thomann was so kind and such a great teacher who loved her students and loved science. Our hearts break for her family and for all of us who are feeling this loss.”  

The high school principal added that officials were committed to supporting students struggling with the news of Thomann’s death and that counselors would be available to them.

It’s at least the second time in a year that tragedy has struck in Greece for Southern California family members.  

In June 2024, 58-year-old retired L.A. County Deputy Sheriff Albert Calibet, a resident of Hermosa Beach, never returned from a hike on the Greek island of Amorgos.  

Despite search and rescue efforts that included volunteers from the sheriff’s department, Calibet’s brother, Oliver, announced several weeks after the disappearance that the family’s search had been called off.