Tourist falls off cliff while trying for close-up view of Hawaii volcano eruptiion
He was stuck between a rock and a hot place.
A Bostonian slipped right off the edge of a cliff while trying to get a close-up look at the Hawaii's Kīlauea Volcano erupting — but miraculously survived.
3 A man plummeted 30 feet off a cliff while trying to see the Kīlauea Volcano erupt in Hawaii.
UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY/M PATRICK/HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
The 30-year-old man edged just a tad too close to a cliff at the Byron Ledge Trail in Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park while he was trying to find a vantage point for the eruption on June 11. It was the 25th eruption since December in Hawaii.
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The man took a tumble over the edge around 9 p.m. while wandering around without a flashlight or headlight, officials with the National Park Service said, according to a press release.
3 The tourist would've dropped an additional 100 feet, but a tree broke his fall.
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Search and rescue teams already on site to help manage traffic ahead of the explosion combed the area for the man. They eventually found him 30 feet below the cliff after a tree miraculously broke his fall.
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Had the man not hit the tree, he would've fallen an additional 100 feet, which officials said could've been fatal.
Instead, he walked away from the fall with only minor facial injuries — and the scare of a lifetime.
While the man dangled and waited to be rescued, Kīlauea spewed lava a staggering 330 feet high into the air, making it nearly impossible to miss even for those stuck in trees.
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3 The Kīlauea Volcano erupted for the 25th time since December last week.
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Last year, another devil-may-care tourist trying to find a good spot to watch a sunrise in Hawaii drove off a 60-foot cliff and fell straight into the ocean. The man and his car were swept away, but he also somehow walked away from the accident unscathed, only facing minor facial injuries and a case of hypothermia.
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