Arabic version: وفاة رجل من كيرنز تحت صخرة قرب لورا

According to ABC News, a 44-year-old man from Caravonica in Cairns died after being crushed beneath a boulder while fossicking near Laura in southern Cape York Peninsula.

Emergency services were called to a remote track at about 8:30am after reports that the man had become trapped under the boulder. Paramedics attended, but he was declared dead at the scene.

The man was with a group of people in the remote Far North Queensland area, about 300 kilometres north-west of Cairns. His body was flown to Cairns by rescue helicopter, and a report will be prepared for the coroner.

The nearest road access was Endeavour Battlecamp Road, which partly follows the Laura River. The area is near the historic Palmer River goldfields, where gold was discovered in 1873.

Laura General Store owner Harold Tavner said one of the man’s companions contacted him while waiting for emergency services, seeking information about the size of a helicopter landing area. Tavner said he spoke to the helicopter pilot and passed the instructions on to the person at the site.