A hiker in California tumbled off a trail and clung to a cliff for dear life before being rescued by a helicopter in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The Southern Marin Fire District employed thermal imaging from the Henry-1 helicopter to locate the man on Sunday night, as detailed by the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office in a Facebook post on Monday. After reaching him, officials lifted him to safety atop the cliff, where fire personnel conducted a medical examination.
Dramatic helicopter footage released by the sheriff's office depicted the man clinging to the cliff's edge while dangling over the rising ocean tide.
The hiker reportedly fell approximately 50 to 60 feet from the hiking trail, according to the fire district. Battalion Chief Jason Golden informed station that "The victim was about 40 feet off the water line.
The tide was coming up, and he was stuck on the cliff."
The rescuer, formally referred to as a tactical flight officer, described it as one of the most precarious rescue operations he had experienced, "because of how the victim was grabbing on and how quickly they were letting go," Golden told the station.
The dramatic rescue unfolded near the Alexander Battery trail in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, according to the sheriff's office. The fire department issued a warning on Facebook, underscoring the extreme danger of the landscape and advising hikers to exercise caution near cliff edges.