MARION COUNTY, Ore. — A man visiting Oregon from Kentucky has died after he slipped down a waterfall.
Zachary Nicholas Mertens fell about 177 feet from the South Falls in Silver Falls State Park on Aug. 10, Oregon Live reported.
Oregon State Police said Mertens went into a closed area to pose for a photo near the waterfall around 6:30 p.m. local time.
Officials said he had climbed over a barrier, according to the Salem Statesman Journal.
A visitor tried to perform CPR, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
His body was recovered from the base of the falls that same night.
Mertens was not the first person to be hurt or killed at the falls in the past five years. A teen was injured when they tried to dive off South Falls. There have been other incidents where parkgoers have died, the Salem Statesman Journal reported
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