A family of four was found alive Monday after the Tesla they were riding in plunged 250 feet into California’s dangerous Devil’s Slide cliff.
Photos and video from the scene show the limousine completely overturned in a mangled mess as it came to a stop on a pile of rocks just meters from the Pacific Ocean.
However, all four occupants – a man, his wife and their 4-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son – miraculously survived the devastating fall and were subsequently taken to a local hospital, KTVU reports.
Authorities initially said the parents were in critical condition, but the San Mateo Sheriff’s Office later said they sustained only non-life-threatening injuries and the children were unharmed.
A motorist veered off a dangerous California highway Monday and fell 250 feet down a cliff
There’s no indication the car was in self-driving mode when it went off the road
The Tesla, in which the man drove with his wife and children, was subsequently a mangled mess when it landed just meters from the Pacific Ocean
Authorities said they first received a call about a Tesla that veered off California’s scenic Highway 1 near Pacifica around 10:50 a.m. Monday and tumbled down the cliff south of the Tom Lantos Tunnel.
Robin Johnson drove by at the time and remembered thinking, ‘Wow, he’s driving extremely fast to take that exit. You shouldn’t even go up like that.’
“And I can see in my rearview mirror this car just going over the edge and straight down,” she told NBC Bay Area.
Johnson said she then decided to call 911.
About 30 to 50 rescuers immediately responded to the scene and attempted 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 with Jaws of Life to breach the door, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.
They did not expect to find anyone alive in the vehicle and were surprised to find all four people alive and conscious.
At that point, crews first worked from the car to the children, reports KTVU, and were able to use ropes to lift them onto the street. Back on land, they were placed on stretchers and checked for injuries.
But the authorities still had to rescue the parents – and needed air support to do so.
About 30 to 50 rescuers were on the spot immediately 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
The crews were able to use the ropes to lift the children aged 4 and 9 onto the street
The helicopter pilots made sure to keep a safe distance from each other and the rocky cliff
Dramatic videos posted online by CalFire showed helicopters hovering over the water to pick up the adults and take them to a landing pad where first responders were waiting for them.
The helicopter pilots made sure to keep a safe distance from each other and the rocky cliff as they dug through the rubble to rescue the parents.
After being freed, the entire family was immediately transported to Stanford Medical Center.
“We’ve come here unfortunately for things like this,” Brian Pottenger, a battalion chief with the Coastside Fire Protection District, said in a statement. “And it was a miracle that they survived.”
It is still unclear why the driver left the roadway.
There is no indication that the car was in self-driving mode at the time.
Dramatic videos posted online by CalFire showed helicopters hovering over the water as they worked to reach the children’s parents
Helicopter pilots dug through the rubble to get the parents to safety and take them to a landing pad where first responders were waiting for them
The cliff has been the site of several deaths over the past five decades.
To make the area safer, a tunnel was built to bypass the most dangerous section of the road, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, but at least nine people have died since then.
The dangerous stretch now has an accident rate more than 50 percent higher than the national average for similar highways.