Missing Cyclist Ate Wild Mushrooms, Fell Off Cliff During Cross-Continent Ride

Scottish cyclist Steven Harper's family confirmed that he died in November after suffering a fall.

A Scottish cyclist has been confirmed dead in Italy after he went missing in Monaco in November, the BBC reported.

38-year-old Steven Harper was attempting to cycle the Mediterranean route from Dundee, Scotland to India when he apparently fell ill after eating a wild mushroom. Harper’s older brother, Dale, traveled to the south of France in November after Steven sent him alarming text messages saying he was “unwell” after eating fungi he’d foraged near Roquebrune-Cap-Martin.

According to Dale, Italian authorities reported that Steven was seen on November 23 falling from a cliff near the harbor of Ventimiglia, Italy. Per reports, Steven’s fall was witnessed by workers at a construction site. They tended to him until a helicopter arrived to take him to a hospital, but unfortunately, Steven was pronounced dead soon after.

However, Dale said that officers didn’t tell him they had located Steven’s body until late last month. During that time, his remains were kept in a local morgue.

Dale believes that Steven ate the poisonous mushroom after he was robbed of his bicycle and money in France. On social media, he confirmed his brother’s death while admitting that some of the details are still unknown.

"His death was attributed to a fall from a cliff, possibly due to disorientation caused by mushroom toxins,” Dale reported. "I take comfort in knowing he was doing what he wanted to do, wasn't wanting for anything, was surrounded by people in his last moments in a place he always said he had wanted to die…I am proud of him but I am just so broken knowing he's not there anymore.”