Pinging Phone Helps Locate Woman Who Survived 700-Foot Fall From San Bernadino Mountains
CRESTLINE (CBSLA) — A woman is lucky to be alive Thursday after her car plunged 700 feet off a road high atop the San Bernardino Mountains, and she has her cellphone to thank for her rescue.
The woman managed to call emergency crews after falling down the side of the mountain but could not pinpoint where she was. Authorities used the phone's ping to approximate her location.
A rescue crew found a patch of dirt along Hwy. 18 near Crestline where they believed she had veered off the road, CBS Los Angeles reported.
She was found about 700 feet down at the base of a mountain in remarkably good condition, given what she had just endured.
"I'm amazed. You don't have these positive outcomes like this when you launch over the side and end up 700 feet, so she's doing quite well," said Battalion Chief Bob Evans with San Bernardino County Fire. "I don't know what her prognosis will be, but she has an altered level of consciousness and some back pain, understandably."
Firefighters had to go down into where the woman's car had fallen and pulled out both her and her vehicle.
The woman was taken to a local hospital.
The California Highway Patrol is still investigating what could have cause her to go off the road.