Girl, 6, Found Alive In Ravine

(AP)  Authorities and relatives say a 6-year-old girl found in a ravine survived on dry noodles and Gatorade while remaining near her dead mother following a car crash more than a week ago.

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