Meteor Crater, a tourist attraction 35 miles east of Flagstaff, was created by an asteroid about 50,000 years ago. It is nearly 1 mile across, 2.4 miles in circumference and about 600 feet deep.

An employee at the park called the sheriff’s office about 4 p.m. Thursday to report a man trespassing at the bottom of the crater.

He then told authorities that he watched through binoculars as the man jumped feet first into the mine shaft, which is surrounded by a 7-foot-high fence topped with barbed wire.

Bay Area man rescued from Arizona mine shaft | PressDemocrat.com.