Mass. man dies in fall from mountain while hunting goats in Alaska

A Massachusetts man died Wednesday after falling while goat hunting in a remote Alaskan mountain near Cordova, Alaska State Troopers announced.

Troopers said 67-year-old John DeLuca suffered fatal injuries when he lost his footing and fell from Queen’s Chair around 10:45 a.m. The U.S. Coast Guard responded to the scene by helicopter and found DeLuca unresponsive. Responders flew him to a clinic in Cordova, where he was pronounced dead. 

Troopers said another person who had been hunting with DeLuca also fell and suffered serious injuries. They were taken to the clinic and are expected to survive. The Anchorage Daily News reported that the second person was a family member.

Trooper spokesperson Tess Williams told the newspaper that the pair was trying a traverse below a ridge when DeLuca stumbled. 

“The person he was hunting with tried to grab him, and they both fell about 100 feet,” Williams told The Anchorage Daily News. 

DeLuca slid another 300 to 400 feet down, Williams said.

Queen’s Chair is located in southcentral Alaska, about 150 miles east of Anchorage.

Morgan Rousseau is a freelance writer for Boston.com, where she reports on a variety of local and regional news.