Girl, 6, Found Alive In Ravine
In Wreck Of Car Crash That Killed Her Mother About 10 Days Earlier
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Play CBS Video Video Girl Survives 10-Day Ordeal
A 5-year-old girl who was reported missing along with her mother was found alive in a Calif. ravine, 10 days after a car crash that killed her mother, Vince Gonzales reports.
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Video Gruesome Survival Tale
A California woman was driving with her 5-year-old daughter when the car plunged off a cliff. The mother died, but the child survived for 10 days until rescued. CBS News' Vince Gonzales reports.
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Family photos of Ruby Bustamante, 5, and her mom, Norma Bustamante, who were reported missing on April 4th after a car crash which wasn't discovered until after the mother had already died. (AP Photos/KESQ-TV)
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This is the place where Ruby Bustamante, 5, was found alive, near the body of her mother, Norma Bustamante, about ten days after a crash that sent their car plunging 150 feet into the ravine. (AP)
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The girl, apparently uninjured, was identified as Ruby Bustamante, the daughter of Norma Bustamante, 26, of Indio, said Jane Evans, nursing supervisor at Riverside Regional Medical Center. They were reported missing April 4.
Norma Bustamante, a mother of 6, reportedly dragged herself from the wreck and lived for at least a few days, reports CBS News Correspondent Vince Gonzales.
California Department of Transportation workers repairing a road barrier Tuesday morning found the girl, her mother's body and a wrecked Ford Taurus 150 feet down a ravine off the 60 Freeway between Moreno Valley and the Banning Pass, said Chris Blondon, spokesman for the California Highway Patrol.
The car had crashed about ten days ago, and the girl was hungry and thirsty but unhurt, Blondon said in a statement.
Relatives gathered at the hospital late Tuesday where Evans said Ruby is in stable condition.
Bill Cooney, the girl's great-grandfather, told local TV networks that Ruby told him she survived on ramen noodles and Gatorade. Ruby also said her mother was alive for "a couple days" after the crash, he said.
Cooney criticized the CHP and other authorities for not searching for Bustamante and her daughter when they were first reported missing April 4.
The family says Norma Bustamante would be alive if authorities had acted.
"This is an outrage. Someone needs to be accountable for this," relative Rose Lopez told Gonzales. "There's no excuse for this young mother to be left out there to die and a child to have to go through a horrific ordeal."
The woman's body is badly decomposed, and the coroner's office does not expect to identify it for several days, said Riverside County Deputy Coroner Rebecca Mendoza.
Banning is about 90 miles east of downtown Los Angeles.
By Bruce Haring İMMIV The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
