One man was killed and another injured Monday afternoon by a falling boulder in the woods of Boone County.
County 911 dispatchers said the two victims were in the woods around the unincorporated community of Wharton for an unclear reason when they started a fire under a rock overhang, and a roughly 80-ton rock fell and struck them while they were underneath.
About 2:40 p.m., one of the victims, a 22-year-old man whose name hasn't been released, called to report the incident, a dispatcher said. He was transported by ambulance to Boone Memorial Hospital.
Individuals from the Van and Wharton-Barrett fire departments confirmed a death had occurred. An official from the Wharton-Barrett department who declined to give his name to the Gazette-Mail said the two male victims, both around their early 20s, had hunting equipment with them and the rock they were under was atop a mountain.
The official, who responded to the scene, said getting to the area required a 15- to 20-minute ride in an off-road vehicle and another 20- to 30-minute walk up a steep slope. He said that while one victim had minor injuries, including a small cut on the head, the other man was pronounced dead on scene. He said the rock probably weighed 100 tons and was 12 feet long, 15 feet wide and 4 feet thick.
"Wrong place, wrong time - you can't just make a rock fall that big," he said. He said he wasn't authorized to release the victims' names.
State Police are investigating.