Man crushed beneath boulder while fossicking

Cairns man killed beneath boulder in Cape York PeninsulaABC Far NorthTopic:Accidents and Emergency IncidentsPosted Mon 2 Nov 2026 at 6:44pmMon 2 Nov 2026 at 6:44pmA helicopter was used to respond to the fatal accident. (ABC News: Emily Anderson)A man has died after being crushed under a boulder in a remote area of Far North Queensland.It is understood the 44-year-old from the Cairns suburb of Caravonica was with a group of people fossicking near Laura, in southern Cape York Peninsula, about 300 kilometres north-west of Cairns.Emergency services were called to a remote track about 8:30am today after receiving reports the man had become trapped under a boulder.Paramedics attended the scene, but the man was declared dead, and his body was flown to Cairns in a rescue helicopter.A report will be prepared for the coroner.The closest road access to where the man died was the Endeavour Battlecamp Road, which partly follows the Laura River.The area is close to the historic Palmer River goldfields, which boomed in the latter part of the 19th century after gold was discovered there in 1873.Laura General Store owner Harold Tavner said one of the man's companions contacted him while awaiting emergency services' arrival."The fellow that was up there with the unfortunate chap … he was trying to make a helicopter pad for the helicopter to land there and he wanted to know how big an area it would need," he said."I got on to the flying doctors and ended up talking to the pilot of the chopper that was going up there and he gave me instructions … which I passed on to the chap on site."