PALOS VERDES ESTATES, Calif. (AP) — Authorities say four people fell off a Southern California ocean cliff in the early morning darkness.
A man was killed Monday, and two women were critically injured.
Police in Palos Verdes Estates say the fourth person was a man who suffered minor injuries, climbed back up from the beach below, and alerted a passing police officer at about 4:30 a.m.
The man told the officer he and his friends had fallen down the cliff.
A 25-year-old man died at the scene.
NBC News affiliate KNBC reported that the man who survived was hospitalized with broken ribs and minor kidney damage.
Police are investigating the event as an accident.
The mother of the 25-year-old man who survived told the news outlet that her son said they were at the cliffs to hike and hang out.
But one of the women slipped and fell as she attempted to relieve herself in the dark, the mother said. She added that the other three slipped while trying to locate the woman who fell.
A trail runs along the bluff top about 300 feet above the Pacific Ocean.
