Man trapped for days in San Diego cliffside crevasse dramatically rescued

A man who got trapped in a crevasse on a rocky San Diego cliff for days was plucked to safety by crews Friday morning during a dramatic rescue.

The unidentified man was stuck from the waist down inside a 12 to 18-inch hole but was eventually airlifted to safety after an hours-long operation that had to be halted overnight due to a rising tide.

Two teens who had been passing by the side of the cliff near Orchard Street and Cable Street heard a man screaming for help at around 3:40 p.m. Thursday, and they immediately called 911 with the San Diego Fire Department (SDFD) responding soon after.

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SDFD’s technical rescue team and Chula Vista Fire Dept. Trench Rescue Technicians worked to help the man for many hours but when the tide began to rise they were unable to continue working and halted operations, the SDFD said. 

The man was provided with electrolytes, hot packs and blankets to keep him warm during the night before a special team of volunteer rescuers from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Dept. arrived at about 4:40 a.m. the next morning. The team specializes in cave rescues, officials said.

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The man appeared uninjured but the narrow gap in which he was stuck caused extreme difficulty in getting him out, officials said. 

Intermittent rain and gusty winds further complicated the effort, and persistent bursts of lightning and thunder also played havoc with rescue crews, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

They resumed operations at 9 a.m. and it took them a further two hours to get him out.

He was then airlifted via a Stokes basket from the scene, his right ankle bandaged, and then transferred to a stretcher and transported via ambulance to a hospital. 

“Drowning was a concern for us last night,” Dan Eddy, the SDFD’s deputy chief of operations, told the San Diego Union-Tribune at midday on Friday, 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.”

The SDFD said they don’t know how the man ended up in the hole or exactly how long he was there. Some reports suggested that the man deliberately entered the cave to find shelter, but Eddy told the San Diego-Union Tribune that he was unable to verify that.