Emergency responders had to rescue a man who'd fallen down steep rocky bluffs while out for a late-night rip. (File photo)

By Spencer Sterritt

30 ft. drop

‘It’s a miracle he’s alive:’ rider survives 30 ft. fall down rocky bluffs

Jun 10, 2019 | 3:11 AM

NANAIMO — Emergency responders are astounded a dirt bike rider didn’t lose his life when he fell down steep, rocky bluffs along the Nanaimo Parkway.

RCMP Cst. Gary O’Brien said the 35-year-old man was riding his small dirt bike west of the Nanaimo Parkway around Fifth St. late on Friday, June 7.

“Whatever the reason, he actually drove over a 30 foot embankment and hit the ground. By the grace of God he wasn’t significantly injured,” O’Brien said.

The rider was found shortly after 1 a.m. and rescued by emergency responders. He was stitched up at the hospital and released.

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O’Brien said the man and a friend were drinking before they went out for the late-night ride, though he said they aren’t officially saying the rider was impaired at the time.

“It’s a miracle he survived this. Given all the circumstances, we could have been looking at an absolute fatality.”

A late-night ride previously claimed the life of a 23-year-old ATV rider in south Nanaimo in mid-May. The incident was the seventh fatality involving a motor vehicle accident of 2019.

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