The desperate search for a bushwalker who fell from a tough hiking trail has come to an end after he was found dead.
The Victorian man, aged in his 30s, fell from bushwalking track on Federation Peak in the Southwest National Park, Tasmania, about 11am on Monday.
Two of his friends contacted police soon after, sparking aerial and ground searches which were called off at nightfall.
A Westpac Police Rescue Helicopter was launched the following morning and located the man’s body about 9am.
The helicopter retrieved the body before airlifting the two others to safety.
‘Our thoughts are with the man’s family and loved ones at this difficult time,’ Tasmania Police said in a statement.
A report will be prepared for the coroner.
Part of the walk around the peak includes shimmying across a narrow path while clinging to the exposed rock face without supports above a 600m drop.
A Victorian man has died after falling from a tough bushwalking track on Federation Peak (stock image), in southwest Tasmania, on Monday
The death comes after a 27-year-old man died trying to complete the Eastern Arthur Traverse last Wednesday and marks the third death on the peak since 2016.
The UK-born New Zealand citizen living in Melbourne had travelled to the Apple Aisle for the 72km hike but failed to contact a friend when planned.
Despite having ‘military training’, search efforts for the man was made more difficult because he didn’t take a personal locator beacon with him.
Search teams eventually discovered a ‘beanie, gloves and a backpack cover’ leading to his body being located off a nearby cliff face.
Police said he died from a ‘significant fall’ on one of the trails to Federation Peak which reaches 1,224 m above sea level.
Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Services warn trails to the peak are ‘not to be underestimated’.
‘This walk is for physically capable and highly experienced walkers who are confident with navigation, cliffs and rock scrambling, pack hauling and extreme weather,’ the Parks and Wildlife Services website reads.
Inspector Colin Riley described the peak as ‘probably one of the most challenging walks that we have in Tasmania’.
‘It is very dangerous, it is steep and it’s slippery, and the weather conditions can change extremely rapidly,’ he said, the ABC reported.
He is the third person to die on the hike since 2016 with authorities describing it as ‘one of the most challenging’ in the state with an elevation of 1,224 m above sea level (pictured)
It’s also the third death across Tasmania’s national parks over the past few days, with the body of a Queensland man, 54, being found in Southwest National Park on Saturday.
Police were notified of the emergency by a personal locator beacon just after 11am and dispatched a rescue helicopter to the Western Arthur Range Traverse.
Another bushwalker had discovered the unresponsive man and he was confirmed deceased at the scene.
A second international tourist, 60, was similarly found unresponsive on a track in the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park on Christmas Day.
Police attended to the man near the junction of Hansons Peak and Twisted Lakes tracks soon after but sadly pronounced him dead.
None of the deaths are being treated as suspicious.
