German Tourist Oliver Park Falls To His Death From Machu Picchu Ledge Posing For Picture

Oliver Park, a German tourist visiting Machu Picchu in Peru, fell to his death while trying to pose for a picture at the historical site.

Tourist Falls To Death At Machu Picchu

Park, 51, had apparently wanted to take a mid-leap picture near the edge of a ledge at Machu Picchu that would capture the Incan ruins down below. After asking a fellow tourist nearby to take the picture for him, it is believed that Park lost his balance and subsequently fell to his death. He had traveled to an off-limits section of Machu Picchu, bypassing a security cordon ahead of his fall.

“He asked a man who was there to take a photo of him,” Guillermo Mestas, a Peruvian tourist, told television station Canal N. “The man came over to take the photo and in the moment he was handing him the camera, he lost his balance and fell. He was at the edge with his back to the abyss, taking a photo of himself.”

Rescuers found Park about and hour and a half after his fall, and determined that he was dead. His body was then taken via train to morgue in Cusco, Peru.

Machu Piccu, a UNESCO World Heritage site, was built by the Incas around 1450 and is now Peru’s top tourist attraction. Over the years, there have been a number of fatal incidents at the site, but none have been related to photography.

“What happens is that many tourists from all over, especially foreigners, always get very close to the edge of the abysses even though the park rangers are always asking them to back up,” Mestas said. “It seems like his desire to get the best photo led to this accident.”