SEATTLE — The family of a Seattle woman critically injured in a paragliding accident in South Africa is working to bring her home.
Brittany “Bri” Siguenza has been hospitalized since Monday.
“It's tough,” Bri’s uncle Mike Teano said. “I'm trying to stay strong for my family but it's just been tough for all of us.”
The family is working with the U.S consulate in South Africa to get to the bottom of it.
Right now, they feel like they're in the dark -- half a world away.
The 24-year-old was on vacation with friends.
“It wasn’t even on their schedule,” Teano explained.
Teano said Bri and the pilot slammed into a wall at Promenade Beach in Cape Town on Monday.
As a passenger, Teano said Bri was in the front and took the full brunt of the impact.
She will soon undergo her second brain surgery, which is supposed to last 8 hours.
Uncle Mike Teano feels helpless.
“Especially for me, it's just something we can't control with her being so far away,” he added.
Bri's parents are with her now. They flew to South Africa as soon as they could, securing emergency passports for the trip.
“I can tell they're feeling like they are by themselves,” Teano said. “We just need, we just need her to be closer.”
A crowdfunding campaign is working to bring her home.
So far, it's raised more than $26,000 in two days.
"We look at all the people donating and it's so overwhelming," Teano said.
While the focus is on Bri's recovery, Teano also questions what happened that day.
According to South African newspaper The Times, four other paragliding companies decided to ground their flights that day because of the wind.
"No words," he said.
The president of the South African Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association told the paper it was investigating but "weather conditions and proximity to buildings/people/trees do not appear to be relevant."
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