'This was nothing short of a miracle': Family survives horrific crash after Tesla plunges off cliff
SAN MATEO, CALIFORNIA: Four people, miraculously survived a 300 feet plunge after the Tesla sedan they were driving, skidded off the road and plunged off the Devil's Slide cliff. A man, his wife, and their four-year-old daughter and nine-year-old son were rescued from the location after the horrific accident. Shockingly, the sedan which was recovered from the site has turned into a mangled mess as it rested on a pile of rocks just feet away from the Pacific ocean.
They rescued the entire family after the car they were traveling in plunged off 300 feet. The rescuers reached the spot shortly after the accident was reported around 11 a.m. on State Route 1, south of the Tom Lantos Tunnels as per KTVU. Initially, it was reported that the parents were in critical condition but San Mateo Sheriff's office later announced that they suffered some non-life-threatening injuries and the children too were unharmed.
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Several agencies, including Cal Fire, Coastside Fire Protection District, and the North County Fier Authority assisted in the 'daring' rescue of the trapped family. "We come out here, unfortunately, for things like this. And this was nothing short of a miracle that they survived," said Brian Pottenger, a battalion chief with the Coastside Fire Protection Dist as per the outlet. About 30 to 50 rescuers responded to the scene to try and reach the car which was resting on the rocks, near the edge of the Pacific ocean.
"We did have one witness state the vehicle did veer off the road to the right-hand side, went up into the dirt area, and then proceeded to go off the cliff," said Pottenger. First responders observed a passenger calling for help when they first arrived on the site. "As I’m driving by, I’m like, ‘Wow, he's driving extremely fast to take that exit. You're not even supposed to be going up that way,” she said. "And I can see in my rear-view mirror this car that just goes over the edge and straight down," Robin Johnson a witness told NBC Bay Area.
The incident commander Pottenger told the San Francisco Chronicle that such cliff falls frequently result in death with no survivors, but on Monday, when they got closer to the scene, they could see someone waving at them as they gazed through their binoculars. “We go down there quite a bit for vehicles off the cliff, and normally they’re not alive,” he said. As someone waived, “That’s how we knew that we had at least one person alive in the vehicle,” Pottenger said. Eventually, the rescuers also noticed two minors who were also alive. They were soon pulled out and later a helicopter was used to rescue the adult victims and take them to the hospital.