Treasure hunters die in quest for mystery $2m stash believed to be hidden in Rocky Mountains

Police have warned the search is putting lives at risk after a second body is found

Forrest Fenn in his Santa Fe, New Mexico, pictured in July 2014 (Luis Sanchez Saturno/Santa Fe New Mexican via AP)

A second treasure hunter has died while on a quest to uncover a mystery bronze chest containing gold nuggets, ancient artifacts and jewellery worth around $2m (£1.6m) that was hidden by an eccentric art dealer.

Paris Wallace, 52, a pastor from Colorado is thought to be latest person to die seeking the bounty.

Reported missing by his family last week, authorities in New Mexico now believe they have found his body after a hunt involving air support, a police dive team, numerous officers, canine teams and volunteers.

Police have warned that the treasure is putting lives at risk but Forrest Fenn, 86, who hid the treasure, said he has no plans to reveal its location, which is believed to be somewhere in the Rocky Mountains.

While New Mexico State Police said the body had not yet been officially identified, they said evidence indicated it was Mr Wallace.

The body was discovered around a year after searchers spent weeks looking for Randy Bilyeu, another Colorado man who disappeared in the New Mexico back country while looking for the loot.

Mr Bilyeu’s remains were eventually found in the Rio Grande several months later.

State Police Chief Pete Kassetas urged Mr Fenn to retrieve the treasure and stop what he called nonsense and insanity.

"He's putting lives at risk," Mr Kassetas said. He added law enforcement officers, search and rescue volunteers were also being put at risk while looking for missing treasure hunters, which was straining state resources.

But in an email to The New York Times, Mr Fenn said he had no plans to call the hunt off.

He said: “It is always tragic when someone dies, and this latest loss hit me very hard. Life is too short to wear both a belt and suspenders.

“If someone drowns in the swimming pool we shouldn’t drain the pool, we should teach people to swim.”

The art dealer, whose gallery in the New Mexico city of Santa Fe attracted frequent visits from celebrities in the 1970s and 1980s, initially planned to bury himself with the treasure when he was diagnosed with cancer several years ago.

But following his recovery, he drew up the treasure hunt and dropped clues to its whereabouts in a poem in his memoir “The Thrill of the Chase”.

Mr Fenn told the Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper that he had been considering how to make the search safer but has not taken any decision yet. He estimated 65,000 people have joined the search for his treasure.

Mitzi Wallace, Mr Wallace's wife and fellow treasure hunter, said it would be a mistake for Mr Fenn to end the hunt.

She said she would continue to search for the treasure with her 19-year-old son, including in the area where authorities believe her husband died.