Victoria Police<\/a>, told CNN in a statement. Australia\u2019s 9News, a CNN affiliate, reported that he fell from the trail at 2 p.m. on Wednesday.\n <\/p>\n\n The 52-year-old father of three fell 400 to 500 meters (around 1,300 to 1,600 feet) during a difficult part of the hike, 9News reported.\n <\/p>\n
\n Paton, 52, was in Peru with his wife to hike the Inca Trail, a popular route that ends at Machu Picchu, a citadel built by the Incas in the 15th century.\n <\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/gettyimages-1240195191.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n The 26-mile (42-kilometer) route takes hikers through steep, mountainous terrain, reaching altitudes of 4,200 meters (around 13,800 feet).\n <\/p>\n
\n Victoria Police said Paton \u201cloved travelling, exploring historic sites and cultures.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Paton\u2019s family members were on their way to Peru, it added.\n <\/p>\n
\n In a statement released by Victoria Police, the family said they were \u201cshattered by the loss. It seems surreal at the moment \u2014 everyone is bereft.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Paton was \u201calways up for an adventure,\u201d his family said, and had \u201calways wanted to travel to Peru,\u201d going so far as to learn Spanish for the trip.\n <\/p>\n
\n Paton joined the Victoria Police in 2009, before becoming an instructor at Victoria Police Academy in 2017.\n <\/p>\n
\n He was due to take on a new role as a senior sergeant next month.\n <\/p>\n
\n Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Mike Bush said: \u201cHis colleagues and the entire policing family are devastated at the tragic loss of a wonderful, caring person.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n CNN has contacted Peru\u2019s Ministry of Culture and its Tourist Police for comment, as well as the Australian Embassy in Lima.\n <\/p>\n
\n The Inca Trail takes hikers from the Urubamba River near Cuzco, up to the ruins of Machu Picchu. The hike normally takes four days.\n <\/p>\n
\n According to government figures, 1.5 million people visited the site last year. Visitors can also take a train from Cuzco to nearby Aguas Calientes instead of hiking. In December, a train crash<\/a> on the line killed one person and left 30 injured.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Summary An Australian police officer fell to his death while hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":687674,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-687673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=687673"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687673\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/687674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=687673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=687673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=687673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}