Woman Rescued 3 Days After Truck Tumbles Down Hillside In El Dorado County
EL DORADO COUNTY (CBS13) — A woman is recovering after authorities say she drove her pickup truck off a steep hillside in El Dorado County and was left stranded for three days.
It happened off Forebay Rd. in Pollock Pines. Investigators say the 47-year-old drove the truck right off the side of the mountain.
"The car rolled, she's saying about 10 times. She was able to self-extricate and made her way down to the water's edge," said Paul McVay, Division Chief for El Dorado County Fire.
It was there at the water's edge that she survived for three days according to authorities, with unknown injuries, until kayakers spotted her around 4 p.m. Sunday and called 911.
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"She was oriented and answering questions appropriately and able to relay her stories to rescuers," McVay said.
Maneuvering through mountainous terrain, at first, the CHP helicopter had difficulty even locating the stranded woman.
"Unfortunately the aircraft was unable to see the vehicle or the patient for quite some time. We were all searching for her, then luckily one of the kayakers was able to get down to the shoreline and wave a T-shirt to the helicopter and let them know, 'hey this is where she's at,'" McVay said.
The woman was finally loaded onto a gurney and airlifted to safety, then transferred and airlifted again to the hospital.
Authorities are still investigating what caused the woman to drive over the hillside in the first place.