An Indian-American man from Union City, Calif., jumped 100 feet down a mine shaft at a tourist site near Winslow, Ariz., on Jan. 11 apparently “to appease the Gods,” news reports said.

Parminder Singh, 28, who jumped into a mine shaft at the Meteor Crater, is recovering from his injuries, according to the sheriff’s office that helped rescue him. Considered the best-preserved meteor site in the world, the Meteor Crater was created by a meteor strike tens of thousands of years ago and is one mile across, 2.4 miles in circumference and more than 550 feet deep. The mine shaft into which Singh jumped is in an area blocked to visitors.

“He is in the care of Flagstaff Medical Center for treatment of his injuries. Also, I believe he is working with mental health professionals,” Cmdr. Rex Gilliland, operations commander in the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office, told News India Times on Jan. 17, about Singh.  He said he had been able to contact Singh’s sister prior to his rescue. Singh’s sister has been to the hospital in Flagstaff to see him, according to the sheriff’s office. Singh’s sister Pushpinder Kaur refused comment on her brother’s condition when contacted by News India Times. 

Gilliland said 17 rescuers, some of them search and rescue volunteers from Maricopa County, Calif., as well as paid Coconino County rescuers were involved in bringing Singh out. That and the equipment and helicopter employed in the operation cost the county thousands of dollars, but Arizona law does not have a provision to recoup losses and there is no precedent for that, Gilliland said.

The rescue effort lasted around eight to 12 hours. Gilliland said there was very little likelihood of charging Singh with anything. He could face one count of trespassing, a misdemeanor, but Gilliland indicated the sheriff’s office was not planning to bring charges.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Singh, a long-haul trucker, jumped feet-first into the mine shaft after scaling a chain link fence. Food, water, warm clothes and a flashlight were lowered to him by rescuers who had to insert angle-iron steps into the sides of the mine shaft to bring him out. Singh suffered a broken arm and leg, severe bruises and severe hypothermia, rescuers told the Chronicle. When a sheriff’s deputy asked him why he jumped in, “He said that he was trying to appease the gods,” Gerry Blair, spokesman for the sheriff’s office told media.