A man is dead after he fell into the popular geologic feature known as Thor’s Well. Photo: YouTube//Screenshot
A man is dead after drowning in Thor’s Well, a natural feature near the small town of Yachats on the Oregon Coast. Yachats is between Newport and Florence, Oregon.
According to reports, the victim died on Monday after he fell into the hole on the rocky coastline. Thor’s Well is a feature likely created when a sea cave collapsed at some point in the recent past. Now, it’s a gaping hole that drops around 20 feet into the sea below.
“Also known as the drainpipe of the Pacific, the well is actually a hole in the rock that only appears to drain water from the ocean,” explained the website for Yachats. “According to some researchers, the well probably started out as a sea cave dug out by the waves, before the roof eventually collapsed and created openings at the bottom and top through which the ocean sprays. The huge hole is likely only around 20 feet deep, but it still manages to produce amazing sights.”
At high tide, the ocean washes up over the rocks and into the hole, which may be how the man ended up in it. A bystander told investigators that they thought the man was standing too close to edge of the well before he fell in. Once authorities were called to the scene, multiple agencies were dispatched to try and rescue him.
“When first responders arrived, they said they had difficulty locating the victim but determined the man was inside Thor’s Well,” Fox News reported. “A U.S. Coast Guard swimmer was eventually able to reach the victim in coordination with an agency helicopter.”
The area around Thor’s Well is known to be a dangerous place to venture close too, as sneaker waves and large sea sprays have pulled visitors into the ocean in the past. According to the Lincoln Chronicle, it’s the third death at the popular attraction at Cape Perpetua since 2017.
When rescuers arrived on scene, it wasn’t immediately clear if the man was inside the well or not. When they flew over it, however, they were able to see his body.
“When you show up, it’s really just ‘Oh man, this sucks’,” rescue swimmer Tyler Gantt told the Lincoln Chronicle. “But body recovery is important, important for families to have closure and important for the fire department to not have to put themselves in harm’s way and potentially add more bodies to the disaster. Because the safest way to retrieve that body was what we did – hoisting him into the helicopter from directly above.”
