(BIVN) – A man made it out of the ocean alive on Sunday, after he reportedly drove his Jeep over the high cliff at South Point.
Hawaiʻi County Police and Fire personnel, along with the U.S. Coast Guard, responded to a report of a swimmer in distress off the southern point of Kaʻū at 3:38 a.m. early Sunday morning.
The swimmer was found 100 yards off shore, after he “accidentally drove his rented Jeep off the cliffs”. He was “coached to a safe spot at the bottom of the cliffs where he could exit the water”, the fire department says.
The man was reportedly alone in the Jeep when it was driven over the cliff, officials say.
Although the swimmer made it safely to the shoreline, he was at the bottom of a 50 to 60 ft. cliff, and needed to be “retrieved by technical rope” by helicopter rescue personnel.
The man suffered from “some facial injuries, scratches, and slight hypothermia”, and was “treated and transported” by the rescue chopper and EMS.
