Park visitor trying to take photos on cliff dies in fall into Lake Superior, police say

A person visiting a Michigan city’s “recreational crown jewel” on Labor Day died following a fatal fall into Lake Superior, police said.

Officers with the Marquette Police Department were called to Presque Isle Park about 1 p.m. Monday after witnesses reported watching someone fall from a cliff, according to a news release provided to McClatchy News.

When first responders got to the area, they found the victim near the shoreline in Lake Superior. The victim was unresponsive, police said, and emergency crews “attempted life-saving efforts” before taking the person to Marquette’s Upper Peninsula Health System Hospital, where they were pronounced dead.

“The investigation is ongoing at this time, but preliminary information suggests that the victim fell while descending the cliff to take photographs,” police said.

The person’s identity was not released pending notification of the family, though locally-based TV station WLUC reports it was a man who fell to his death.

Following the person’s death, the police department reminded Presque Isle Park visitors to “stay back from the cliffs, and to use caution around unprotected hazards in the park.”

Presque Isle — considered “almost” an island — is a “323-acre forested oval-shaped headland/peninsula which juts into Lake Superior in the northern tip of the City,” according to the city of Marquette.

The park is home to “diverse landscapes including pebble beaches, rocky cliffs, bogs, and forest.”