Hiker dies after he fell from cliff at Oregon state park and was swept into ocean

A California man died after he fell from a rocky bluff in an Oregon state park and was swept into the Pacific Ocean over the weekend, police said. His body was recovered Sunday.

On Saturday, 25-year-old Henry Minh Hoang of West Covina, California, was hiking past a safety fence in an area of Cape Kiwanda State Natural Area known to locals as “the punch bowl” when he slipped and fell approximately 20 feet to the water’s edge, Oregon State Police said in a news release.

Hoang was knocked unconscious from the fall and the waves swept him into the ocean, police said. Police responded to rescue Hoang, but witnesses lost sight of the 25-year-old, and police refocused their efforts into a recovery operation.

The operation, assisted by the Tillamook County Sheriff’s Office, firefighters and the U.S. Coast Guard, was put on hold until Sunday morning, when “searchers could safely resume their efforts,” police said.

At around 4:30 p.m. Sunday, Hoang’s body was discovered at the bottom of a nearby cliff on the shoreline, according to police. 

“The decedent’s body was recovered and transported to a local funeral home,” police said.

The state park’s website gives a stark warning to visitors to not go beyond safety fences, saying that people have died after climbing over them.

“Beyond the fence, the cliff edge can — and will — crumble without warning. It’s dangerous, and people have died after climbing over the safety fences,” the website says. “Don’t do it. The views are spectacular from the established viewpoints, on the safe side of the fence.”