Paradise Hills, San Diego: Keith Leyva plummets off cliff, trapped for hours before cries are heard

A cyclist who fell from a cliff and sustained horrific injuries has miraculously survived after authorities searching for a different person heard his cries for help.

Keith Leyva, 57, was walking his bike along a broken Upper Dam trail section in Paradise Hills, San Diego, when he slipped off the edge and plunged down a cliff side on September 20.

He fell more than 15 metres and lay trapped at the bottom of the ravine suffering severe and painful injuries.

With broken bones all over his body, Mr Leyva was completely unable to move, and he remained stuck at the bottom of the cliff desperately calling out for help in the hopes that a passer-by might hear him.

By coincidence, a local customs and border protection team were searching the same area that Mr Leyva was stranded in for another trail rider who went missing.

They heard Mr Leyva’s cries for help and quickly moved to rescue him. The team bandaged him, and he was then airlifted to safety.

Jennifer Wolschlag, Mr Leyva’s wife, said she had panicked when her husband, who is an avid cyclist, did not return from his trail ride.

She said she had always feared that something like this would happen to him, NBC San Diego reported.

“Collapsed lung, contusion to the chest, broken bones all over the place, liver laceration,” Ms Wolschlag said.

“Just with the collapsed lung — alone overnight, that could have been it.”

A search had begun for Mr Leyva after his car was found in the Upper Dam trail head car park, but he had been cycling along a different part of the track than he had said he would be.

If it hadn’t been for the search already being conducted, it may have taken far longer to track down Mr Leyva.

Mr Leyva said he thought his life was entirely in his hands, he didn’t think anyone was coming to save him

“I thought I was going to be there until morning and have to pull myself out of a ravine, but I couldn’t even move,” he said.

He has a long recovery ahead of him, with doctors saying it will take at least six months before he will get back 50 per cent of the use of his wrist.

Ms Wolschlag is wishing for her husband’s full recovery, and also wants the trail that he fell from the be closed.

“Even if some other parts are hike-able, this part is not hike-able,” she said. “You can’t hike and you can’t take your bike.”

Mr Leyva remains in the ICU but will be moved to the rehabilitation unit tomorrow.

Jeffrey D Stalnaker, a San Diego customs acting chief, said there is no doubt in his mind that the responding agents saved Mr Leyva’s life.

“I am truly thankful the agents were in the right place at the right time to make a difference.”