A 20-year-old tourist died on Monday after a fall at Silver Falls State Park in Oregon, according to police.
Oregon State Police said that at approximately 6:36 p.m. local time, Oregon State Police troopers and Marion County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to Silver Falls State Park following a report that someone had fallen from the top of the South Falls.
“Troopers determined the individual, Zachary Nicholas Mertens (20) of Burlington, KY, accessed a closed area to pose for photographs at the top of the waterfall. Mertens slipped and fell into the water approximately 177 feet below,” police said in a news release.
The Marion County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue team oversaw the recovery efforts.
The Statesman Journal reports that another park visitor tried to revive Mertens with CPR before emergency crews arrived.
Get breaking National news
“It was a pretty horrific accident,” former Silver Falls State Park manager and current regional manager Chris Gilliand told the outlet. “A very tough situation.”
The Marion County Medical Examiner reportedly released Mertens’ body to Marion County Search and Rescue.
Silver Falls State Park is known for its scenic waterfalls. According to Oregon State Parks, visitors can stand behind the South Falls and see what a 177-foot curtain of water looks like from the back.
“It’s part of the Trail of Ten Falls, a spectacular, nationally recognized hiking trail that weaves through a dense forested landscape. The trail passes a series of breathtaking waterfalls along a rocky canyon, and descends to a winding creek at the forest floor,” the website says.
In August 2020, a teenage boy was injured after jumping off the 177-foot waterfall, according to Oregon State Police.
Jordan Frate of Portland jumped from the top of South Falls “of his own accord” into the pool below, police said.
Two witnesses pulled Frate, who was unconscious, from the water and rescue teams responded to the scene and carried him on a stretcher to a place where a Life Flight helicopter transported him to Salem Hospital with “serious injuries.”
He was treated and released from the hospital following the incident.
They open the comments for some poor sap who kills himself at some waterfall in another country, but a story as important as “B.C. may transfer Crown land to Vancouver Island First Nations” is closed off. Stupid Global
ImbeciIes and their selfies and thirst traps that they use to pursue interest clout.
hope he got the selfie first