Hiker plunges 100 feet off Oregon cliff, officials say. Watch Coast Guard rescue

An Oregon hiker plunged 100 feet from a cliff — the day before their 25th birthday, news outlets reported.

Gil Tighe, who uses the pronouns they and them, was hiking on a narrow path near Cannon Beach when they slipped and fell from the cliff, KGW reported.

Soon after the fall, officials with the Seaside Fire Department were on the scene, but they couldn’t recover the hiker safely, according to the Coast Guard. Tighe needed a helicopter rescue.

Less than an hour after first responders were on the scene, a helicopter crew hoisted Tighe to safety and took them to Portland for medical care, the Coast Guard reported.

“Effective coordination with our partner agencies ensured a safe and efficient transfer of the survivor,” Lt. Derrick Rockey, the rescue pilot, said in the Coast Guard news release. “Working together to get the hiker to higher medical care was the goal, and we got it done.”

Tighe told KGW their left arm was “super broken,” and they had fractures in their face, nose, ribs, left elbow and hip.

“Those people really saved my life,” Tighe told KOIN. “If they hadn’t responded as quickly as they did, I suspect that I would have died.”