Woman Survives Seven Days After Driving Off Cliff
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LOS ANGELES (CBSMiami) - An Oregon woman is telling her incredible story of surviving for seven days after plunging over a cliff in central California.
Angela Hernandez, 23, suffered a brain hemorrhage in the July 6th crash. She said she owes her life to two hikers who saw her car and found her a mile down the beach in Big Sur.
"We saw a bumper first and we were like, huh, there's a bumper, that's weird. Then we came around another bend and saw the car," said Chelsea Moore.
"We had no idea someone was missing, we had no idea a car drove off a cliff until right then," said Chad Moore.
In a Facebook post on Sunday, Hernandez said seven days earlier she swerved to avoid hitting an animal and plunged to the bottom of a rocky two hundred and fifty-foot cliff.
"The only thing I remember after that was waking up. I could feel water rising over my knees. Eventually, I was able to break out of my car and jump into the ocean. I swam to shore and fell asleep," she posted.
Hernandez said the next few days were a blur. She wandered the beach, yelling in vain for help. She said she then found a 10-inch hose in her car's wreckage.
"She would lay under the rock and let the water drip off the rocks and into the hose, that's the only way she drank water," said Chad Moore.
The hikers found her purely by chance about a mile south of the crash site.
"We turned and Angela was just right there in the rocks and looked like hell," said Chad Moore.
"When I sat up, I saw a woman walking across the shore. I thought she was a dream," wrote Hernandez.
Over the weekend, Hernandez re-connected with Chelsea on Instagram.
"I'll be thankful for you and your husband every single day for the rest of my life," she posted.
"No one could've survived that. I looked down at that cliff, at the car, there's no way anyone survives that but Angela did," said Chad Moore.
In addition to the brain hemorrhage, Hernandez broke four ribs, both collarbones and suffered a collapsed lung in the crash.