Possibly due to slick road conditions during this morning's rain, a driver on Highway 1 south of San Francisco appears to have skidded off a steep cliff, but he was able to get out of the car and be rescued.
Images from Cal Fire CZU posted to Twitter don't show us where, exactly, the car landed, but it was reportedly well down the cliff and "submerged" when found by a CHP officer. The driver was able to get out of the car on his own, as KCBS reports, and climb up part of the cliff face, where he was rescued while clinging to the rocks.
The incident happened south of Tom Lantos Tunnel, just south of Pacifica, around 8 a.m. Thursday morning.
Multiple agencies are responding to an incident at Devils Slide, south of Tom Lantos Tunnel. Avoid the area. pic.twitter.com/A6s5eypZDu
— CAL FIRE CZU (@CALFIRECZU) November 4, 2021
Another photo posted by Cal Fire shows the scale of the cliff.
San Mateo County Sheriff Lieutenant Eamonn Allen tells KCBS that the rescue happened in part thanks to a California Highway Patrol officer in the area who happened to see fresh skid marks leading off the cliff.
"Sounds like it may have just been slick out there, the tire started coming out from underneath him and he overcorrected and went over the side," Allen said.
That officer spotted the submerged vehicle at the base of the cliff and called in help from Cal Fire.
The driver is reportedly in stable condition.
