Woman trying to retrieve phone goes over 68-foot waterfall, survives

WHITLEY COUNTY, Ky. (WKYT/Gray News) – A woman survived with no injuries after going over a waterfall in Kentucky while trying to retrieve her phone.

According to Whitley County Emergency Management, the 36-year-old woman was taking photos at Cumberland Falls State Park when she dropped her phone in the river Wednesday afternoon. When she tried to retrieve the phone, she was swept away by the current.

“We all want to get really close to something so beautiful, but I can see how easy it would be to misjudge how close you are to something like that,” Cumberland Falls visitor Tonya Scherf said.

Witnesses called 911 and told dispatchers a woman had fallen into the river and went over the waterfall, landing downstream.

When first responders arrived, they found the woman at the bottom of the waterfall. She was able to swim to rescuers and was pulled out of the water.

Officials said she was checked out by EMS at the scene and, shockingly, did not need to be taken to the hospital, as she was uninjured.

Located in southeastern Kentucky, Cumberland Falls is 68 feet high by 125 feet wide, reaching depths of up to 400 feet at the base of the falls.

Anthony Christie, the Whitley County Emergency Management director, credits the woman’s ability to swim with saving her life.

“If she didn’t know how to swim, it probably would have been a different outcome,” Christie said.

Officials said the woman breached the security gate to get a closer look at the falls, and they are reminding visitors to stay behind the barricade for safety reasons.

Visitors who disobey safety rules can be fined. Officials did not say if the woman who went over the falls would be fined.

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