Scott Fippinger vanished in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Fippinger family photo
San Diego resident Scott Robert Fippinger headed south to Mexico with friends to find a few waves. Sometime during the wee hours of Tuesday morning, he left his tent and vanished.
Fippinger and his friends were camping on a cliff near Chuie’s Surf Camp in Rosarito, just south of Tijuana. According to the people he was with, around 3 am, he left his tent to urinate. They noticed the light from his cell phone and heard him moving around in the area, then fell back asleep. It wasn’t until the sun rose that they realized he was missing. According to reports, they found his cell phone broken on a concrete slab between his tent and the edge of the cliff.
Right now, authorities are under the assumption that Fippinger fell from the cliff. High tide on Tuesday morning was at 3:38, and would have reached the base of the cliff. No evidence was found when high tide receded, but units from the Mexican Naval base in Ensenada assisted lifeguards from the Salvavidas division of the Bomberos de Rosarito in their search. The sweep is focussed on a six kilometer stretch between El Campito and Camp Lopez.
In the past, drowning victims in the area have surfaced nearly a week later, somewhere between Medio Camino and La Salina.
Figginger’s parents have traveled to Mexico, and have joined the search. They are looking for help from anyone available in finding their son. “My wife and I only have two sets of eyes,” Eric Fippinger, the missing man’s father, told NBC San Diego. “We really need our friends in Baja to help us find our son.”
If you have any information about what may have happened, call the San Diego Police Department’s non-emergency number at (619) 531-2000 or call NBC 7 San Diego at (619) 578-0201.
