SLO County man who died in fall from cliff at Pirate’s Cove identified by sheriff
A Nipomo man died Wednesday evening after falling off a cliff at Pirate’s Cove near Avila Beach on Wednesday, according to the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office
On Thursday, the agency identified the man as Francisco Javier Velasco Garcia, 33.
According to witnesses and the Sheriff’s Office, Garcia and a woman were sitting on a cliff in the area of Cave Landing Road overlooking the water around 5 p.m. Wednesday.
When Garcia got up to leave, “He lost his footing, slipped backward and fell approximately 200 feet to the cliffs below,” the Sheriff’s Office said in a news release Thursday.
A possible cliff rescue was called into the Sheriff’s Office around 6:08 p.m.
Emergency responders discovered Garcia down the side of the cliff in the area of the Pirate’s Cove parking lot and confirmed he was deceased, Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Tony Cipolla told The Tribune.
Cal Fire assisted the Sheriff’s Office in recovering the fall victim, Cal Fire tweeted Wednesday.
The death appears to be accidental, the Sheriff’s Office said in the release.
