NYC teen dies in apparent drowning after leaping off ledge of upstate waterfall

A 16-year-old boy from New York City died in an apparent drowning after jumping from the ledge of a waterfall in upstate New York, authorities said Wednesday.

The unnamed teenager, from Brooklyn, and a friend had leapt from the top of a waterfall called Fawn's Leap, located along Kaaterskill Creek in the Catskill Mountains, the Athens Volunteer Fire Department wrote in a news release shared to Facebook. The 24-foot cliff has become a popular jumping spot for visitors, a number of whom have recorded and posted videos of themselves completing the stunt online.

Authorities say the teenager was swimming in the area below the falls Tuesday with a group of friends from Brooklyn, when he and one friend jumped together from Fawn's Leap at around 3:20 p.m. and landed in the water near one side of the base of the falls. Both struggled to swim out of the strong hydraulic current created by the waterfall, the fire department said, noting that another swimmer was able to help the teen's friend to safety but could not reach the 16-year-old who died.

Divers with the New York State Police, the Greene County Sheriff's Office and the Athens Fire Department ultimately recovered the teenager's body and pronounced him dead at the scene, officials said. The sheriff's office is investigating the incident.

This was the third rescue operation conducted in the area around Fawn's Leap in just two weeks, the Times-Union reported. On July 26, two rescue crews used ropes to lower responders down one of the cliff faces abutting the waterfall to help a visitor who was injured on the bank below. One day earlier, first responders rescued 16 people trapped in floodwaters around Fawn's Leap and another swimming hole nearby, after the creek rose quickly, according to the Times-Union.

In 2019, a 20-year-old aspiring cadet fell to his death at Fawn's Leap, CBS New York reported.

In:
• Drowning
• New York