Overview
- Authorities say the 25-year-old jumped about 15 feet, resurfaced with a thumbs-up, then swam under the falls and did not come back up.
- Bystanders pulled him from the water after more than 10 minutes and performed CPR, but he did not regain consciousness.
- The Gila County Sheriff's Office identified the victim as Wei-Jie Lin of Taiwan and said search-and-rescue teams responded to a drowning report at the Lower Waterfalls.
- Some outlets reported he may have gone back under by choice and that the force of the falls likely trapped him below, which officials have not confirmed as the cause.
- Fossil Creek is a spring-fed, federally protected river with a short trail to the falls, and the USDA warns that swimming or cliff diving there has led to previous drownings and severe injuries.