Two young elk hunters who went missing in the wilderness for a week have been tragically found dead due to a lightning strike. The victims, Andrew Porter and Ian Stasko, aged 25, were struck by lightning while hunting on the Rio de los Pinos trail in the National Forest of Colorado, as confirmed by Conejos County Coroner Richard Martin.
The bodies of Porter and Stasko were discovered under a tree with minor burns on their bodies, resembling the impact of a matchstick according to Martin. The coroner emphasized that such a death is instantaneous, transitioning from life to death in a split second.
Autopsy results for the two hunters, hailing from Asheville, North Carolina, and Salt Lake City, Utah, respectively, are anticipated within eight weeks. Despite the lack of an exact time of death, Martin expressed confidence in his initial assessment.
Following an extensive search operation, the remains of Porter and Stasko were located by Colorado search and rescue teams on Thursday morning. Porter’s aunt, Lynne Runkle, mentioned in a GoFundMe statement that the young hunters may have been caught off guard by passing storms.
Porter had last communicated his location to his fiancée via a satellite device on September 11, just hours before the tragic incident. Efforts to locate the hunters involved multiple rescue teams scouring the area.
In a Facebook post, Murphy, Porter’s fiancée, confirmed that the cause of death was a lightning strike and emphasized that the hunters did not suffer fear or pain. She described Porter as an experienced outdoorsman who unfortunately found himself in an unforeseen situation.
The Mirror has reached out to Coroner Martin for further comments.