UPDATED: The trail heading up to Norway’s popular Preikestolen (Pulpit Rock) was closed for several hours on Monday, after a hiker slipped and fell close to its summit. The hiker’s body, which fell 200 meters, was later found with the help of a helicopter.
Details were initially sketchy, and state broadcaster NRK reported that those following the victim couldn’t see what actually happened. Local newspaper Stavanger Aftenblad later reported that the deceased was a Norwegian man hiking alone who fell at around 10:30am, just 150 meters from the summit.
Others making the trek had determined it was too slippery to venture close to the mountain plateau’s edge. Police later described the fatality as “a tragic accident.” The victim was carrying both identification and a mobile phone, and police contacted his next of kin.
It took members of the Rogaland Alpine rescue organization several hours to make their way to the body at 5pm. Others who witnessed the accident were met by health care personnel and police when they returned to the parking lot at Preikestolhytta.
“This is a very sad incident,” local mayor Irene Heng Lauvsnes told NRK. Preikestolen attracts nearly 400,000 visitors a year and the 4-kilometer trail leading up to it has been improved, but accidents still occur. A record 354,000 made the ascent last year.
NewsinEnglish.no staff
