SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - A badly injured woman spent the night at the bottom of a steep ravine in Northern California after her vehicle veered off a mountain road and rolled hundreds of feet down an embankment.
Authorities tracked the 28-year-old woman's cellphone after her family reported her missing, and a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter hoisted her to safety Tuesday.
Television news footage showed the woman in a stretcher being raised to the helicopter hovering above Mount Hamilton in the San Jose area at about 8:45 a.m. She was taken to a hospital with major injuries, including a leg injury and stomach pain, but was expected to survive, California Highway Patrol Officer Ross Lee said.
The woman went off the roadway between 1:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. Monday, according to Lee.
A communication system in her vehicle indicated she was in distress and provided a location, but rescuers did not find her there.
The woman's family reported her missing early Tuesday. Police were able to track the location of her cellphone, and a sheriff's deputy found the vehicle. The woman was out of the vehicle, though Lee said he did not know whether she was ejected or got out herself. The cause of the crash was under investigation.
"It's really a combined effort of all the departments involved," Lee said. "Everyone was able to come together and find her and get her safely out of there."
News footage before the woman was hoisted up to the helicopter showed the small, white vehicle resting on its hood below the embankment with emergency workers surrounding it.