Odd News
Tourist survives 250-foot slide down Big Sur cliff
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-08-05 10:54
BIG SUR, Calif. -- A German tourist is nursing only small cuts and bruises after sliding 250 feet down a cliff on California's central coast.
Rescuers say the 20-year-old man and his three friends were touring Big Sur on Sunday when they stopped to toss around a football at a traffic pullout perched about 400 feet above the Pacific.
Jost Ben of Wilnsdorf, Germany, was wearing only clogs, soccer shorts and a T-shirt when he climbed over the edge to retrieve the stray football, Monterey County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Garrett Sanders said.
"He went over the edge and just started sliding," Sanders said. "He's lucky he's alive."
A Monterey County Sheriff's team rappelled down the mountain to rescue him after fire crews found their equipment did not reach far enough. A deputy strapped the man to a harness and helped him scale the cliff.
Ben was treated at the scene for a gash to his face and other cuts and released. He did not recover the football, Sanders said.
