The Department of Natural Resources is investigating an accident Wednesday that killed a young snowmobiler in northwest Iowa’s Pocahontas County.

A release from DNR  the states 13-year-old Raymond Gatzemeyer of Fonda was operating a snowmobile on a creek when he struck a rope that was suspended between two pillars of a bridge. It happened just before 5 p.m. Wednesday southwest of Fonda.

Gatzemeyer was with three other people, two who were on snowmobiles and one who was operating an ATV. They were not injured. It’s unclear why there was a rope attached to the bridge pillars. Gatzemeyer was wearing a helmet. He was pronounced dead at a hospital in Sac City.