Calif. Crews Rescue Pair After Car Plunges Off Cliff
Source Santa Cruz Sentinel, Calif.
SOQUEL, Calif. -- A man and a woman whose Honda plunged about 50 feet down a cliff off Soquel-San Jose Road escaped serious injury after the car's fall was stopped by a tree, authorities said.
The 69-year-old man and 57-year-old woman, both from Soquel, suffered non-life-threatening injuries in the 2:30 p.m. crash, said Central Fire spokesman Mike DeMars.
The man was driving the 2003 Honda sedan north on Soquel-San Jose Road just south of Olive Springs Road when for an unknown reason he veered off the road, CHP officer Sam Courtney said. The car fell down a cliff, striking several trees, before it became suspended in a tree about 30 feet above Soquel Creek, Courtney said.
"He hit several trees and the last one stopped him from going into the creek," he said.
Central firefighters rappelled down the cliff and cut the windshield off the Honda to free the passengers, authorities said.
"It was a fairly extensive recovery ... because of the steep terrain," Courtney said.
No other vehicles were involved in the wreck.
Both victims were transported to Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz with minor injuries, DeMars said. A tow truck lifted the car back up the cliff.
The California Highway Patrol closed Soquel-San Jose Road during the roughly three-hour rescue.
Copyright 2012 - Santa Cruz Sentinel, Calif.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
