A family visit to the Bay Area ended tragically in Marin County Monday when a teenager fell to his death off a cliff near Muir Beach.
The teen was traveling with five family members from West Chester, Pennsylvania. Three members of the boy's family were with him when he fell and two other family members were in the parking lot at nearby Muir Beach, Golden Gate National Recreation Area spokeswoman Alexandra Picavet said.
A relative who saw the boy fall notified the boy's father, who climbed down the cliff in an attempt to save him. National Park Service lifeguards from Stinson Beach arrived on a jet ski and took the boy's body to Muir Beach where the coroner's office was summoned.
There are reports that the victim was talking on his cell phone in the seconds before he fell between 400 to 500 feet down the cliff.
Battalion Chief Mike Giannini said the fire department received a call about the incident around 1 p.m. The victim was pronounced dead about an hour later.
The family from West Chester, 25 miles west of Philadelphia, planned to visit Muir Woods next. They were clearly devastated at the news of their loved one's death.
