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A tourist owes his life to sheer luck after falling nearly 30 feet off a cliff towards an erupting volcano during a visit to a well-known Hawaiian destination last week.
While trying to get a closer look at the Kīlauea volcanic eruption, the 30-year-old from Boston strayed from the park’s Byron Ledge Trail and approached “dangerously close to the cliff’s edge” on Wednesday, as reported by Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
Fortunately, a tree interrupted the man’s fall, preventing him from dropping “another hundred feet or so onto the caldera floor, which could have been fatal.”
People watch as Hawaii’s Kilauea Volcano erupts for the 21st time on May 11, 2025, in Kailua Kona, Hawaii. (Gary Miller/Getty Images)
“A toddler wandered off from his family and in a split second, ran straight toward the 400-foot cliff edge,” the park said in a press release. “His mother, screaming, managed to grab him in the nick of time just a foot or so away from a fatal fall. Disaster was averted, and the shaken family departed.”
In addition to spewing hot lava, the volcano can also emit toxic gasses and “glassy volcanic particulates,” called tephra, making close encounters with the natural phenomenon highly dangerous.
Aerial of Waipio Bay and Valley in Big Island Hawaii. (iStock)
“The hazards that coincide with an eruption are dangerous, and we have safety measures in place including closed areas, barriers, closure signs, and traffic management,” Park Superintendent Rhonda Loh previously said in a statement. “Your safety is our utmost concern, but we rely on everyone to recreate responsibility. National parks showcase nature’s splendor but they are not playgrounds.”
The National Park Service did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
