The bodies of two hikers were recovered on Saturday in Acadia National Park, Maine, by a volunteer search team, after relatives were reported missing, officials said.
The man, 28, and woman, 30, both from Rutland, Massachusetts, appear to have fallen about 30 meters along an ice-covered cliff on Dorr Mountain, the National Park Service said in a statement on Saturday. Their names have not been released.
The couple arrived in Bar Harbor, Maine on Tuesday and they were last heard on Thursday around noon, when the woman called her family on her cell phone and said they were interested climbing the Cadillac mountain, which is close to the Dorr mountain.
Relatives were concerned on Friday afternoon, when the two did not check out of the hotel or returned the vehicle. A US Coast Guard helicopter from Cape Cod, using thermal imaging technology, scanned the north and east sides of the Dorr and Cadillac Mountains at night, but was unsuccessful.
On Saturday morning, a ground search team of 15 Mount Desert Island Search and Rescue volunteers, park staff and a Maine Forest Service helicopter were dispatched, according to officials. Researchers on foot found the bodies on Saturday morning.
The incident remains under investigation by National Park Service guards and the Maine State Police, with the help of the Bar Harbor Police Department.
