Two adults and two children are counting their blessings after they suffered no serious injuries, despite their Tesla falling 250 feet off a cliff on California’s Pacific Coast Highway onto a rocky beach.
The crash occurred on Monday morning, just 20 miles from San Francisco, at a location named Devil’s Slide.
Inside the car was an adult male and female, a 9-year-old boy and a 4-year-old girl. Authorities shared that the children were in their car seats, which remained intact and in place.
The San Mateo Sheriff's Office noted in a press release that the adults suffered “non-life threatening injuries” while the children were “unharmed.
Brian Pottenger, a battalion chief with Cal Fire’s Coastside Fire Protection District, shared his surprise to find the passengers all alive, saying first responders were “very shocked.”
“Accidents on that cliff are not rare. We do respond to a lot of vehicles on that cliff,” Pottenger shared in an interview with CNN. “What’s rare is that we do not get a lot of survivors – surviving this type of accident is very rare.”
The survival of the passengers was nothing short of a miracle, as the vehicle reportedly “flipped several times” as it went off the road just south of Tom Lantos Tunnel.
Authorities have not named a cause for the crash, but Pottenger shared that the damage on the car appeared to suggest that it hit its side rail before going over the edge.
Firefighters responding to the accident rappelled down the cliff, where they found the passengers alive.
“As we were doing that, we were able to notice movement in the front seat through the windshield,” Pottenger said, noting that some firefighters were watching from binoculars. “So we knew that we had at least one person that was alive.”
The children were freed from the vehicle and lifted off the beach in baskets before a helicopter airlifted the two adults to safety.
After being rescued from the wreck, the survivors were sent to a local hospital for medical attention. Their condition as of Tuesday had not been released.
“This was a traumatic accident, and they survived,” Pottenger said. “And it was a good outcome to a very bad situation.”
Officials did not share whether or not Tesla's automated driving feature was on during the crash.
Down the Audacy app and follow 97.1 FM Talk.
Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | TikTok
Related
Related
