PACIFIC CITY, Ore. — Authorities say a Portland man trying to walk across a homemade tightrope between two large rock sections on the north Oregon coast is missing after a large wave hit him and swept him into the ocean.
Tillamook County Sheriff Andy Long said Friday that 25-year-old James Michael Alejandro was climbing on a rocky area of Cape Kiwanda with several others Thursday afternoon when he connected a single rope between two large rock sections above the water and tried to walk it.
Witnesses say he was briefly seen in the ocean but they lost sight of him.
A Coast Guard boat and helicopters searched by water and air but didn’t find Alejandro.
Long cautions that coastal ocean currents are strong and large waves are common in the area.
