British climber killed in rock fall at Yosemite National Park 'saved wife's life'

A Cheltenham climber crushed to death by falling rocks at Yosemite National Park has been named.

Andrew Foster, 32, who now lives in Wales, was trapped when more than 1,000 tonnes of rock fell from the face of the El Capitan monolith on Wednesday.

He was killed attempting to save his wife, Lucy, who was injured and remains in hospital.

Mrs Foster spoke to her husband's aunt and said she was only alive because Andrew jumped to save her.

Gillian Stephens told the Times: "She said: 'Andrew saved my life. He dived on top of me as soon as he could see what was going to happen. He saved my life'."

Reports say the couple were celebrating their first wedding anniversary with a three-week trip to the national park.

The couple, found with climbing equipment, are believed to have been scouting out the ascent from a trail when a "sheet" of granite plummeted from a height of 200 metres.

A statement on the park's website says the couple "were in the park to rock climb but were not climbing at the time of the initial rockfall".

Speaking on Thursday, Scott Gediman, from the park, said: "With all the craziness I don't exactly know where they were going but chances are they were going up.

"From what I understand they were buried under rock... They were crushed by falling rocks."

The couple are the only known casualties despite being with a group of other climbers when the series of collapses struck, but a search is ongoing.

One witness, Mike Kane, tweeted that the collapse was "very loud", adding it was a "miracle more (were) not hurt".

Meanwhile, a second rock fall at the site on Thursday left one person injured who was airlifted to hospital.

Mr Foster's death is one of two fatalities from a rock fall in the park since 1999.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We are in contact with the local authorities and providing assistance to both families at this very difficult time."