The world inched its way closer to its first Pokemon GO-related death this week, as two men took steep falls from a cliff in Southern California while playing the wildly popular game.
Following news of the first verified Poke-car crash, authorities told TheWrap on Thursday that two men had to be rescued in Encinitas, California, after tumbling from a cliff while on the hunt for Pokemon characters.
A spokesperson for the Encinitas Fire Department said that the department responded to a cliff rescue call involving two men on Wednesday at 1:10 p.m. One of the men had fallen all the way to the sand below, a distance of some 70 to 80 feet.
The second man had to be rescued 50 feet below the bluff of the cliff’s edge, with responders moving him via ropes and harnesses.
Sgt. Rich Eaton of the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department told TheWrap that the two men told deputies that they had been playing Pokemon GO at the time of the fall.
Both men were transported to the trauma center at Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla with moderate injuries.
The fire department spokesperson told TheWrap that the area where the men fell was blocked off by a fence and a railing, and warnings cautioning people to stay off of the cliffs were posted.