How did ANYONE survive this? Family-of-four plunged 250-feet off California’s ‘Devil’s Slide’ cliff in their Tesla – with the two kids walking away without a scratch and their parents suffering non-life-threatening injury
- A family of four were rushed to the hospital after the Tesla they were driving in plunged 250-feet down the Devil’s Slide cliff
- Photos show the sedan overturned in a mangled mess
- Miraculously all four occupants survived the devastating fall
- The parents suffered only non-life-threatening injuries and the children were unharmed
A family of four was found alive on Monday after the Tesla they were driving in plunged 250-feet down California’s dangerous Devil’s Slide cliff.
Photos and video from the scene show the sedan completely overturned in a mangled mess as it came to a rest on a pile of rocks just feet from the Pacific Ocean.
Miraculously, however, all four occupants – a man, his wife and their 4-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son — survived the devastating fall and were rushed to a local hospital in the aftermath, KTVU reports.
At first authorities said the parents were in critical condition, but the San Mateo Sheriff’s Office later announced that they suffered only non-life-threatening injuries and the children were unharmed.
A driver careened off a dangerous California highway on Monday and plummeted 250 feet down a cliff
There is no indication the car was in self-driving mode when it veered off the road
The Tesla the man was driving in with his wife and kids was a mangled mess in the aftermath, as it landed just feet from the Pacific Ocean
Authorities said they first received a call about a Tesla careening off California’s scenic Highway 1 near Pacifica, and tumbling down the cliff south of the Tom Lantos Tunnel at around 10.50am on Monday.
Robin Johnson was driving by at the time and recalled thinking: ‘Wow, he’s driving extremely fast to take that exit. You’re not even supposed to be going up that way.’
‘And I can see in my rear-view mirror this car just go over the edge and straight down,’ she told NBC Bay Area.
Johnson said that is when she decided to call 911.
About 30 to 50 rescuers immediately responded to the scene and tried to reach the electric vehicle, which was estimated to be about 250-feet below the highway.
Rescue teams used ropes to rappel down the slope carrying Jaws of Life with them to breach the door, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
They were not expecting to find anyone alive inside the vehicle, and were surprised when they found all four people alive and conscious inside.
At that point, the crews worked to the children from the car first, KTVU reports, and were able to hoist them up to the road with ropes. Once back on land, they were put on stretchers and assessed for any injuries.
But authorities still had to rescue the parents — and needed air support to do so.
About 30 to 50 rescuers immediately responded to the scene and tried to reach the vehicle
They pulled out ropes to rappel down the side of the dangerous cliff and rescue the two children stuck inside
Crews were able to hoist the children, ages 4 and 9, up to the road with the ropes
The helicopter pilots were careful to maintain a safe distance from each other and the rocky cliffside
Dramatic videos posted online by CalFire showed choppers hovering over the water to pick up the adults and bring them to a landing area where first responders were waiting for them.
The helicopter pilots were careful to maintain a safe distance from each other and the rocky cliffside as they dug through the wreckage to rescue the parents.
Once they were freed, the entire family was promptly transported to Stanford Medical Center.
‘We came out here, unfortunately for things like this,’ Brian Pottenger, a battalion chief with Coastside Fire Protection District said in a statement. ‘And it was nothing short of a miracle that they survived.’
It remains unclear what caused the driver to veer off the road.
There is no indication the car was in self-driving mode at the time.
First responders waited at a landing site for the helicopter to rescue the parents
Dramatic videos posted online by CalFire showed choppers hovering over the water as they worked to reach the children’s parents
Helicopter pilots dug through the wreckage to pull the parents to safety and bring them to a landing area where first responders were waiting for them
The cliff has been the site of several fatalities over the past five decades.
In an effort to make the area safer a tunnel was built to bypass the most dangerous stretch of the road, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, but at least nine people have died since.
The dangerous stretch now has an accident rate more than 50 percent higher than the statewide average for similar highways.
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