New Zealand mountain biker dies after falling 100m on 'death road' while holidaying in Bolivia

A New Zealand man has died after falling 100m down a cliff off Bolivia's infamous "death road" while holidaying with his girlfriend.

Gravity Assisted Mountain Biking owner and fellow Kiwi Alistair Matthew said a New Zealand man died in a mountain bike accident while on Yungus Road from La Paz, the capital, to Coroico, also known as "death road".

The incident happened at 11.50am Bolivian time, 4.30am NZ time, in rainy conditions and at halfway through the track the man failed to arrive at one of the stops.

It was the first bicycle death for the company, the only other fatality occurred when a man died of a heart attack.

"The Gravity guides went back up the road to look for him and identified where he had fallen off the road.

"The lead guide abseiled down to where he had fallen to [approximately 100m below the road] and determined that he showed no signs of life."

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed it was aware of the death of a New Zealander in Bolivia and was providing consular support.

No more information could be confirmed due to privacy considerations.

Bolivia is in central South America. The country covers sections of the Andes Mountains and Amazon Basin rainforest.

Matthew's said the company was conducting its own investigation and co-operating with local and international authorities to uncover as many details as possible about the accident.

Gravity Assisted Mountain Biking was established by Matthews in 1998.

"Gravity has safely guided more than 100,000 clients down the road during this time, while Gravity has previously had one customer die of a heart attack, this is the first rider we have had die in a bicycle accident."