Boy survives 230-foot fall from California cliff

BODEGA BAY, Calif. - Authorities in Northern California say a 4-year-old boy survived after falling 230 feet from a seaside cliff and landing on a rocky beach.

The child has been hospitalized in critical but stable condition.

The Santa Rosa Press Democrat reports the boy was on a family outing on a trail in Bodega Bay on Monday evening when he suddenly couldn't be found.

Bodega Bay Fire Department rescuers spotted him on the beach at the bottom of the cliff.

Two firefighter-paramedics rappelled down with a rescue basket and reached the boy, with help from illumination flares fired into the air from a Coast Guard motor lifeboat.

Fire Capt. Justin Fox says the boy was awake and crying by the time he was loaded into an ambulance and rushed to a hospital.