3 hikers died in separate climbing accidents at a Montana national park this week, officials said

• Three hikers died while climbing mountains in two separate incidents at a Montana national park this week.
• The accidents each occurred at Glacier National Park in Montana's Rocky Mountains.

Three hikers died while climbing mountains in two separate incidents at a Montana national park this week, officials said.

The accidents each occurred in the vast Glacier National Park of Montana's Rocky Mountains, according to the National Park Service.

The federal agency said on Tuesday that a 79-year-old man from Florida fell to his death on Monday as he was attempting to climb a "steep" off-trail slope several hundred feet above a campground on Rising Wolf Mountain.

The man, whose identity was not released, was with friends at the time. The pals climbed down to where he fell, yelled for help, and then called 911, officials said.

An air rescue crew rushed the man to a medical ranger station where he was ultimately pronounced dead.

The National Park Service said on Monday that the bodies of two other men were found in Glacier National Park after going missing this week.

The hikers — identified as 67-year-old Brian McKenzie Kennedy from Columbia Falls, Montana, and Jack Dewayne Beard, 67, of Kalispell, Montana — were both killed in a climbing accident on Dusty Star Mountain this week, officials said.

The park agency said staffers knew both of the men and that they were considered to be "expert climbers."

They "have been summiting mountain peaks in Glacier National Park for decades," according to the park agency.

Kennedy and Bears had planned to start hiking Dusty Star Mountain on July 22 and were reported missing on July 24, officials said. Park rangers discovered their vehicle at the trailhead on the same day.

Their bodies were located by an air rescue crew.

"As long-time members, both men contributed greatly to the Glacier Mountaineering Society and were well-known in the Flathead Valley community," the park service said.

Insider previously reported that it's unknown how many people go missing in America's national parks each year. The National Parks Service has at least 27 cold cases of people who have gone missing and have yet to be found, with the oldest case dating back to 1958.