'Life Is Incredible': Woman Found Alive 7 Days After Driving Off 200-Foot Cliff
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MORRO BAY, Calif. (AP/KDKA) - Authorities say a couple on a camping trip came upon a missing Oregon woman who survived nearly a week after her car went over a cliff in coastal California.
The Sacramento Bee reports Chelsea and Chad Moore were hiking near Big Sur on Friday when they spotted a Jeep Liberty at the bottom of a 200-foot coastal bluff. They gathered items from the scene, including the Jeep's license plate, to bring to authorities. About 30 minutes later they located the driver, Angela Hernandez, who was injured but stable.
The 23-year-old had been missing since July 6.
Chad Moore stayed with Hernandez on the beach, while Chelsea Moore ran to call 911. Hernandez was taken to a hospital. She tells authorities she lost control after swerving to avoid an animal.
Hernandez wrote about the ordeal on her Facebook page, describing the days she spent walking up and down the beach, climbing on rocks to try to find help and collecting fresh water dripping from the top of the cliffs to drink.
"I could see cars driving across the cliff and felt like if I could yell just loud enough, that one could hear or see me. That's all it would take to make it back to my family. Just one person noticing me. I'd usually stay there until the sun became unbearable and then would find a way to slide myself back down to the shore," she wrote.
Hernandez said she suffered a brain hemorrhage, fractured ribs, broken and fractured collar bones, a collapsed lung, ruptured blood vessels in her eyes and intense sunburns.
"I've experienced something so unique and terrifying and me that I can't imagine that there isn't a bigger purpose for me in this life," Hernandez wrote. "I don't know, you guys, life is incredible."
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