A woman endured four nights trapped in her severely damaged pick-up truck after swerving to avoid a deer and plunging 250 feet down a California canyon near Mount Baldy. The incident occurred on a winding mountain road outside Los Angeles, leaving her with a broken ankle in freezing temperatures, as reported by the San Dimas Mountain Rescue Team.
Lacking cell service, the woman had no means to call for assistance, surviving on the supplies within her vehicle. It wasn’t until Sunday that a passing fisherman, Chris Ayres, heard her cries for help. Ayres, on a quest for new fishing spots, couldn’t see her truck from the road but eventually located her inside, her head protruding from the window.
“I don’t know how she survived it,” Ayres told CNN affiliate KCAL/KCBS. “I saw the steering wheel, was almost folded like a taco. Her head must have hit that.”
The woman had set up bowls in her truck to collect rainwater. Despite Ayres initially being unable to secure cell service, he managed to flag down a forest service truck, leading to the deployment of a rescue crew.
A Los Angeles County Fire Air Operations team airlifted her to the hospital, and the San Dimas Mountain Rescue Team emphasized that they are uncertain if she would have survived another night.
“It’s got to be God-led, I happened to stop in that one spot,” Ayres said. “It’s almost like fate.”
