A tourist on Hawaii’s Big Island narrowly escaped death over the weekend after his rental Jeep plunged more than 50 feet from a cliff into the ocean, witnesses and authorities said. The man, who was not named, miraculously survived with “a few scratches and slight hypothermia,” reported KHON 2. The survivor told firefighters he’d driven to a cliff near the island’s southernmost point, an area that’s off-limits to rental vehicles because of the terrain and lack of cell service, because he wanted to watch the sunrise. Spear-fishermen who were also waiting for the sun to rise reportedly witnessed the plunge, saying the vehicle tumbled down amid winds as high as 50 mph, landing on a rock inside the ocean. The Jeep had its driver’s side pinned, so the man inside had to crawl out the passenger side and swim against strong ocean currents until a rescue helicopter arrived to save him using a tactical rope, authorities said. If it weren’t for the fishermen witnessing the incident and calling 911, they told KHON 2 the man likely wouldn’t have survived.
