Two elk hunters who were found dead in a national forest in Colorado last week died instantly from a lightning strike, a county coroner said on Tuesday morning.
The Conejos County coroner, Richard Martin, said on Tuesday that the two hunters, Andrew Porter, 25, of Asheville, N.C., and Ian Stasko, 25, of Salt Lake City, were struck while standing by a large tree.
“There was a big bolt of electricity that consumed them,” Mr. Martin said in a telephone interview, after completing the autopsies.
The men, whose bodies were found on Sept. 18, had been reported missing in the San Juan National Forest Wilderness Area, in the southwestern corner of Colorado, on Sept. 13.
They were found after a search operation that included at least 170 people on ground search and rescue teams, air support and canine units as well as horseback riders.
Mr. Porter’s fiancée, Bridget Murphy, said in a post on Facebook that “he was just trying to get back to the car as storms rolled in on Friday - September 12.”
The men were reported missing after they failed to check in at a predetermined time.
The report touched off an extensive search — despite the heavy rain — that included the New Mexico State Police and rescue teams, along with volunteers from states including Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Wyoming, according to Sheriff Garth Crowther of Conejos County, Colo.
Over five days, more than 50 teams were involved in the effort. Each team had three or four members either on foot or on horseback, the sheriff said. The teams were supported by drones and helicopters.
The San Juan National Forest covers about 1.8 million acres and has a substantial trail network among 13,000-foot peaks. The small city of Durango is at the southern tip of the forest.
The bodies of Mr. Porter and Mr. Stasko were found about two miles away from the Los Pinos Trailhead, the Conejos County Sheriff’s Office said.
Officers found the vehicle that the hunters drove to the trailhead, they said. Their camping gear and backpacks were still inside it.
The number of deaths from lightning strikes in the United States has steeply fallen over the last few decades because of improved weather forecasting and public awareness campaigns.
As recently as 2006, there were 40 deaths, according to the National Lightning Safety Council, which promotes awareness of the dangers of lightning and safety practices. Last year, there were 13 deaths.
“They didn’t do anything wrong, they didn’t feel fear or pain,” Ms Murphy said in her Facebook post about her loss.
“It was out of everyone’s hands,” she said, “and I am so grateful we found them so they can be at peace. He was an experienced outdoorsman, who was in the wrong spot at the wrong time.”