Man trapped in San Diego crevasse, possibly for days, is rescued after teens hear cry for help
A harrowing rescue unfolded on the rocky shores of Sunset Cliffs in San Diego last week when an unidentified man was finally plucked to safety by emergency workers who spent almost 20 hours with the victim before he was able to be saved.
Witnesses said the man appeared naked and badly shaken when he was extracted late Friday morning from a hole he had become trapped in, possibly for days.
Lifeguards initially arrived on site about 4 p.m. Thursday following a report that someone may have plunged over the cliff, Dan Eddy, deputy chief of operations at the city’s Fire-Rescue Department, told the San Diego Union-Tribune.
They found the man about 15 feet underground, wedged in a crevasse halfway down the jagged shoreline.
He was stuck in an opening that was barely 18 inches wide, authorities said. Rescue crews initially tried to break away rocks to free him, but each time they loosened some rocks, others fell down around him, keeping the man pinned.
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They were unable to immediately rescue the victim due to a swiftly rising tide and spent the night treating him with electrolytes, hot packs and blankets to keep him safe and protect him from the gusty winds and storm that pelted San Diego overnight.
“Drowning was a concern for us last night,” Eddy said after the man was safely moved. “We worked with our lifeguards, and with [the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration] on trying to pick out our tides.
“Our tides showed us that it wasn’t going to go over his head the size of the surf,” he said. “But we did know that [water] was filling that bottom cavity cave where his legs were in between.”
Once the tide receded sometime after 8 a.m., fresh emergency crews arrived at the scene to continue the rescue mission, Eddy said. The newcomers included a San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department team specializing in cave rescues.
Two of the rescue workers — one from San Bernardino County and one from San Diego — were small enough to fit into the cave below the trapped man. They drilled small holes in the walls to insert micro-blast explosives to break up and remove chunks of rock.
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Emergency crews eventually created enough space to dislodge the man, and they maneuvered him into a rescue basket dangling from the end of a huge crane atop a San Diego Fire-Rescue vehicle.
Seconds later he was hoisted to the top of the cliff, where paramedics shifted him into a gurney and placed him into an ambulance. He appeared to be naked but covered by a blanket, his right ankle bandaged.
The evacuation was completed just before 11 a.m. Rays of sunshine broke through the overcast sky moments after the victim was lifted to safety.
The man was transported to UC San Diego Health with major trauma injuries, Eddy said. Despite his injuries, the man was awake, talking and able to thank the rescue team, the deputy chief said.
Emergency crews said the victim became trapped as early as Tuesday.
He was not discovered until Thursday afternoon when a group of teenagers heard his cries for help.
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Chris Correa and Cole Stickley, two teenagers from La Mesa, told the Union-Tribune they were in Ocean Beach to celebrate Stickley’s birthday and were walking along a footpath when their friend heard a man shouting.
“We were playing music, and my friend Diego said, ‘Did you hear that?’ and thank God he did,” Stickley said. “We turned off the music, and sure enough, there’s somebody calling for help.”
They quickly called 911.
The teens said they talked with the man while waiting for lifeguards to arrive. He told them he had been in the crevasse for about three days, they said. He pleaded with them to not leave before paramedics arrived.
Correa said he and his friends attempted to free the man but quickly realized that he was too wedged in.
“Our friend Justin was like pretty much headfirst into this hole, trying to grab his hand while, me and our other friend were like grabbing his ankles, making sure he doesn’t also fall in,” Correa said.
The rescue Friday was broadcast on live television as word of the emergency spread across the city. Dozens of witnesses waited anxiously atop the bluffs at Orchard Avenue and Cable Street, where emergency crews set up their operation.
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Larry Butterworth, who has lived along Orchard Avenue for 30 years, said he had been watching the emergency response off and on since Thursday evening.
From a house overlooking the cliff side, Butterworth said it was the first time in years that he had witnessed such a high-profile response. He said someone drove their car off the cliff nearly a decade ago.
Butterworth also said he has previously seen people appearing to live in the caves at the bottom of the cliff.
“That area down there a couple of years ago, it started having some sinkholes,” he said. “And there were some homeless people living down there in the caves, but that was a couple of years ago.”
Though there were some reports that the rescued man had deliberately entered the cave to find shelter, Eddy said he had no information to verify that.
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