A California man was rescued from deep into a mine shaft Thursday at Meteor Crater in Arizona after he inexplicably jumped into it, according to the Arizona Daily Sun in nearby Flagstaff.
The newspaper said:
The man says he illegally hiked to the bottom of the crater and jumped down a 100 foot mine shaft to “appease the gods,” according to the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office.
An employee at the privately owned meteor impact site called the Sheriff’s office at about 4 p.m on Thursday when the employee spotted the man hiking to the bottom of the 600 foot deep crater. The employee then watched through binoculars as the man jumped feet first down a mine shaft, officials said.
Authorities say that if it weren’t for the attentive employee, the man would have likely died and, possibly, not been discovered for some time.
The San Francisco Chronicle identified the man as Parminder Singh, 28, of Union City. It took rescuers about eight hours to remove him from the hole.
Rescuers trekked down into the crater, cut through the fence and got to the mineshaft opening at 8:22 p.m., sheriff’s officials said. When they called out to Singh, they heard a muffled reply.
Rescuers lowered food, water, a handheld radio, warm clothing and a flashlight to Singh. Authorities were ultimately able to lower a member of the Flagstaff Fire Department Technical Rescue Team down the mineshaft to treat Singh — who suffered a broken arm, a broken leg, “pretty severe abrasions” and severe hypothermia — and prepare him to be lifted 100 feet to safety, Blair said.
After he was pulled out, Singh was asked by a deputy why he had jumped.
“He said that he was trying to appease the gods,” Blair said. “It seems like we may be dealing with a mental condition as well. … Basically all we know is what he told us.”
Singh was taken to a Flagstaff hospital, where he was listed in stable condition. He may face trespassing and similar charges.
Meteor Crater, which measures one mile wide, was created about 50,000 years ago by a 150-foot-wide asteroid that plowed into the Arizona soil. It’s a popular side trip for travelers on Route 66. It’s about six miles south of the Mother Road.
UPDATE: KTVK-TV in Phoenix posted several photos from the Coconino County sheriff of the mine shaft and rescue.