California helicopter crew rescues man clinging to cliff face after falling 60 feet off trail

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Man clinging to rock face is rescued after falling off cliff in Northern California

A rescue helicopter crew in Sonoma County, California, rescued a man from a cliff face after he fell off a trail on Sunday. (Credit: Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office)

A Northern California sheriff’s office on Monday shared dramatic video of a helicopter crew saving a man who fell 60 feet off a trail and was clinging to the face of a cliff.

The helicopter crew responded around 7:40 pm. Sunday to the Battery Alexander, a trail near the ocean in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, following a report of a man who had fallen off a cliff, the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office said. 

The man was seen on the helicopter’s thermal imaging camera clinging to the grave rock face of the cliff.

“The victim was about 40 feet off the water line,” Jason Golden, Battalion Chief of Southern Marin Fire, told KGO-TV. “The tide was coming up and he was stuck on the cliff.”

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The helicopter crew spotted the man clinging to the cliff face on its thermal imaging camera. (Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office)

Golden said it was “one of the most precarious rescues” because the victim was quickly losing their grip on the rock face.

The man had fallen about 60 feet off the trail in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. (Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office)

Video shows the helicopter crew lowering down a rescuer to the man. The rescuer is heard yelling, “Don’t let go!” before placing him in a rescue device.

Officials said the man was losing his grip on the gravel rock face when rescuers arrived. (Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office)

“I got you brother,” the rescuer said as the chopper lifted the pair off the cliff. 

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The fallen man, whose identity was not immediately released, was flown to the top of the cliff and handed over to fire personnel for medical evaluation. 

No updates on the man’s condition or the circumstances that led to the fall from the cliff were immediately available.

Golden urged visitors to use caution when visiting the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, warning that people have died falling off the cliffs.

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“Please be very careful when you get to the cliffs,” he told the station. “Don’t go up close to the edge and please don’t try and climb up.”