In a spectacular rescue on Friday morning, crews freed a man who had been stuck for days in a crevice on a rocky cliff in San Diego.
After an hours-long rescue attempt that had to be abandoned overnight owing to a rising tide, the unidentified guy was eventually evacuated to safety after becoming trapped from the waist down inside a 12 to 18-inch hole.
Around 3:40 p.m. on Thursday, two teenagers walking along the edge of the cliff near Orchard Street and Cable Street heard a man yelling for aid. They dialed 911 right away, and the San Diego Fire Department (SDFD) arrived shortly after.
After spending many hours trying to assist the man, the Chula Vista Fire Department’s trench rescue technicians and the SDFD’s technical rescue team were forced to cease operations when the rising tide made it impossible for them to carry out their mission.
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In order to keep him warm over the night, the man was given blankets, heat packs, and electrolytes. At approximately 4:40 a.m. the following day, a special team of volunteer rescuers from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department arrived. According to officials, the squad specializes in cave rescues.
The man didn’t seem hurt, but authorities claimed it was quite difficult to free him because of the small opening in which he was trapped.
The San Diego Union-Tribune stated that rescue workers were severely hampered by lightning and thunderous outbursts, intermittent rain, and strong winds.
When they started off again at nine in the morning, it took them a further two hours to free him.
After his right ankle was bandaged and he was flown from the site using a Stokes basket, he was moved to a stretcher and taken by ambulance to a hospital.
After the individual was relocated safely, Dan Eddy, the deputy chief of operations for the San Diego Fire Department, informed the San Diego Union-Tribune at noon on Friday that “drowning was a concern for us last night.”
“We collaborated with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and our lifeguards to identify our tides. The size of the surf would not allow it to pass over his head, as our tides shown,” he remarked. “But we did know that (water) was filling that bottom cavity cave where his legs were in between.”
The man’s exact length of stay in the hole and how he got there are unknown, according to the SDFD. According to some accounts, the man entered the cave on purpose to seek refuge, but Eddy was unable to confirm that, he told the San Diego-Union Tribune.
