A man found dead Thursday morning on a gravel carriage road in Acadia National Park is believed to have died from a medical event, according to a park official.
The man appeared to have been bicycling before he died, Acadia spokesperson John Kelly said Friday. Kelly said he did not know the man’s name or his exact age, but that he is believed to be an Israeli citizen in his 40s.
The man appeared to have been alone when he died. His body was found by another visitor at around 7:30 a.m. near the southern end of Eagle Lake, he said.
Kelly said the man has been taken to the state medical examiner’s office in Augusta to determine a more precise cause of death.
Deaths in Acadia are extremely rare, with an average of around only one or two a year out of millions of visitors, most of whom set foot in the park during the summer and early fall. Most of the deaths that do happen are accidents or the result of medical events that coincide with a person’s visit to the park.
The death on Thursday is the second-known fatal event in the park this year. In June, Nicole Mokeme of South Portland died when her boyfriend, Raymond Lester, allegedly ran her over with his SUV on a walking path at the Schoodic Education and Research Center at Schoodic Point, on the eastern side of Frenchman Bay.
Mokeme’s death is the first suspected homicide in the park in 35 years and only the fourth since the park was established in 1916.