Hawaiian man found dead after apparently falling into volcano
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According to the National Park Service, family members reported the man missing in the park early Monday.
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A Hawaiian man was found dead after apparently falling into a volcano.
Authorities on Hawaii's Big Island have recovered the body of a 75-year-old man who is believed to have fallen from a closed area of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, where visitors have been trying to catch a glimpse of a glowing lava lake from the Kilauea volcano's eruption in recent months.
The man's family reported him missing from the park early Monday, according to the National Park Service. The accident, according to officials, happened late Sunday evening.
Park rangers and firefighters had searched all night for the missing man, and his body was eventually discovered 30.48m below the crater rim of the Ukahuna viewing area at the summit of the Kilauea volcano.
An investigation is underway, according to officials, and the man's identity is "pending further notification of family."
Since the volcano began erupting in September, thousands of people have visited the park at night to see the glowing lava lake. The eruption "[sent] up fiery fountains as high as 100 feet and [flooded] the floor of Halemaumau Crater with lava," according to Hawaii News Now.
In a similar incident, according to NPR, a 32-year-old army soldier was seriously injured in May 2019 after falling from a 300-foot cliff into the crater while attempting to get a better view of Klauea.
