An 18-year-old man is missing and feared dead after falling through a blowhole at a state beach south of Carmel-by-the-Sea, the Monterey County Sheriff's Office said.

The teenager, identified by KION as Braxton Cooper Stuntz of Carmel, was hiking with friends Saturday along a cliff at Garrapata State Beach when he spotted a blowhole in the rocks.

Curious, Stuntz approached the hole for a closer look, but slipped and fell through the opening, landing about 15 feet below on a sandy beach hemmed in by large rocks.

He apparently was not hurt in the fall as he flashed a thumbs-up sign to his two companions peering through the hole, Coast Guard spokeswoman Emily Rowan told KSBW.