IT’S a tourist spot famous for its beauty but notorious for its storms and sadly it was the latter that claimed the life of an Adelaide man in a freak accident.
Antony Van Der Meer was hiking Kings Canyon, one of the Northern Territory’s most popular tourist attractions, on New Year’s Day when a mammoth electrical storm hit.
The 35-year-old was on the Rim Walk, a 6km “spellbinding” hike around the top of the canyon, when it started to pour.
Antony, an aspiring radio DJ, was hiking with four of his family members and had been in charge of photographing them all as they travelled the Northern Territory.
As the torrential rain began to fall and the sky became littered with lightning, the family started to pack up their things.
Antony reached for the metal tripod he’d been using to steady his camera and strapped it to his back.
Tragically, that could be the action that led to his death.
Northern Territory Police confirmed to sources, including NT News, that the long, metal tripod acted as a conductor for the lightning and could be the cause of Antony’s death.
When lightning struck the metal tripod, Antony was shocked and the family members around him were thrown to the ground.
They were less than 500 metres from the carpark.
Despite the family’s CPR efforts, Antony could not be revived.
Due to the dangerous weather conditions and the hike’s degree of difficulty, it took emergency services more than two hours to reach the scene where they pronounced Antony dead.
A spokesman for NT Police said the stormy weather conditions had slowed efforts to retrieve his body.
“We have since recovered the body. The other hikers were not injured, however they are suffering extreme shock,” the spokesman said.
Family members who spoke to The Advertiser on Tuesday said they were too overwhelmed with grief to speak publicly.
One family member described Mr Van Der Meer as “the one who always brought light to our lives”.
Central Australian Parks director Chris Day said electrical storms in the remote areas of the Northern Territory aren’t uncommon.
“They’re probably not as common or as severe as the Top End but I certainly wouldn’t say it’s uncommon,” he said.
“From what I’ve been told, there were two separate storm fronts coming in from different directions which converged on the George Gill Range. It sounds like it did come in quite quickly.”
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