Global Courant 2023-04-27 22:56:15
An Oregon father died and three children were rescued over the weekend, after they fell off a 60-foot cliff while hiking along a trail to a remote coastal beach, authorities said Monday.
Rescue teams responded after Jordan Acord, 28, reported that her husband Ryan Acord, 36, her two children and a childhood friend of the family had fallen off a cliff while hiking to Secret Beach on Oregon’s southern coast, the Oregon Sheriff’s Office said. Curry County.
Multiple agencies, including the US Coast Guard, rushed to Secret Beach near Brookings.
When first responders arrived, it became apparent that the family was not at Secret Beach.
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Ryan Acord, 36, fell on the rocky beach about 200 feet below the end of the trail. Officials said he died in the fall. (Curry County Sheriff’s Office)
“They followed Google Maps, and it pointed them to the wrong place, and they thought they were in the right place, so they parked and went down the wrong path,” Sheriff John Ward told KOBI-TV.
The family had unknowingly gone to a small beach a little further north of Secret Beach near the Spruce Island View Point, where officials parked their vehicle.
Rescue workers reached all three children and brought them to safety. Nolan, 8, suffered serious injuries and is being treated at a hospital, where he is expected to recover. (Curry County Sheriff’s Office)
Rescue workers began rappelling down to the rocky beach, where officials said they found the couple’s 8-year-old son, Nolan, and his father about 200 feet below the trail’s end.
Ward said Ryan Acord saw the kids slip and fall on a treacherous section of the trail near a waterfall and ran to avoid going over the cliff. But, Ward said, the father slipped and fell to the beach below.
Ryan Acord had died in the fall while Nolan was seriously injured, the sheriff’s office said.
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Nolan was airlifted to Curry General Hospital in Gold Beach before being transported to Oregon Health and Science University in Portland.
Rescue workers are also rappelling down to reach the other two youths, the couple’s 12-year-old son, Kade, and the family’s 8-year-old friend Liam.
The Acord family believed they were walking to Secret Beach along the southern Oregon coast near Brookings. However, they had instead found another beach a little further north, officials said. (Curry County Sheriff’s Office)
Both children had fallen off the steep embankment but stopped short of the cliff’s edge, officials said.
Kade was found holding on to a small tree that had kept him from falling hundreds of feet onto the rocky beach. Liam was also found unharmed in the upper part of the dike.
Jordan Acord has informed the sheriff’s office that Nolan is doing well and is expected to make a full recovery.
Ward told the station that the search and rescue teams have responded to the area several times in recent years due to the treacherous conditions of the trails.
“I can’t tell you how many times search and rescue there have responded over the years because people get into situations they can’t get out of,” the sheriff said.
