Two experienced elk hunters found dead in southern Colorado after a weeklong search were killed by lightning, authorities confirmed Monday.

Conejos County Coroner Richard Martin told the Colorado Sun that Andrew Porter and Ian Stasko died from a lightning strike while hunting southwest of Monte Vista near the Colorado-New Mexico border.

“That kind of death is just instant. It’s like you’re alive and now you’re not,” Martin said. “Just that quick. Split second.”

The hunters’ bodies were discovered on Sept. 18, six days after they were last seen at the Rio de Los Pinos trailhead, the Sun said. Search and rescue teams located them two miles above the trail in the South San Juan Wilderness.

Martin said the men were found below a tree with slight burns on their bodies, which he described

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