Angela Hernandez, 23, went missing on Friday July 6 as she drove from Portland, Oregon to her sister’s home in Lancaster, California
A 23-year-old Oregon musician who had been missing for a week was found alive at the bottom of a California cliff in the wreckage of her car, where she survived on water from her Jeep’s radiator.
Angela Hernandez was driving from Portland to Lancaster, near Los Angeles, to visit her sister Isabel when she saw on animal on the road and swerved to avoid it, sending her car plummeting 200ft off a Big Sur cliff on July 6.
She survived the crash that completely destroyed her car and left her with a shoulder injury, but was trapped on the remote beach by herself.
Alone on the desolate shore for seven days, she survived by using her radiator hose to siphon water from a nearby stream, according to KGO-TV.
She was spotted by a pair of hikers who spotted her yelling for help on Monterey County beach on Friday.
While on the road on July 6 she swerved after seeing an animal on the road, lost control of her car, and plummeted down a 200ft cliff in Big Sur, California, pictured above during rescue
She was spotted on Friday by two hikers who found her yelling for help on the remote Monterey County beach. Rescue crew arrived shortly afterwards to hoist her to safety
Officers are pictured scaling down the cliff to reach Angela before hoisting her to safety
A wide shot reveals the dangerous fall she took and miraculously survived despite crashing down the steep cliff into the rocky depths below
During those seven days as she struggled to survive and find human contact, her family and police launched a frantic land and air search for her. A $10,000 reward notice for information on her whereabouts was also posted.
Her rescue on Friday was a sigh of relief for her family.
‘My sister is alive, she’s talking, and she’s still trying to come to understand everything. She’s a fighter and she fought this long and she will continue to. It’s not going to be an easy recovery. I hope everyone will have patience for her and her recovery,’ Angela’s sister Isabel Hernandez wrote on Facebook on Saturday.
According to social media Angela is an aspiring musician and guitarist who formerly worked as a Site Supervisor for New Orleans Nonprofit SBP aiding in disaster relief.
When she was found her car was partially submerged in the water and she was able to walk and talk as police scaled down the cliff on ropes to hoist her to safety on Friday.
After her family couldn’t reach her after July 6, a $10,000 reward for information on her whereabouts was posted
She crashed in her white Jeep Patriot that was left completely destroyed in the 200ft plunge
The musician and former non profit worker was en route to her sister’s home when she crashed
‘Angela was found about 200 feet down a cliff. Her vehicle was partially in the water. She was found by two people walking in the area, who called 911,’ the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office shared on Facebook.
She was transported by ambulance to a waiting helicopter and then to Twin Cities Community Hospital in Templeton, according to SFGate.
The 23-year-old raised alarm when she was unreachable by her family on July 6.
The day prior stayed at a Safeway parking lot in Half Moon Bay where she slept for the night. On the morning of July 6 she texted her sister saying she was hitting the road before she suddenly went off the grid.
She was last spotted on surveillance camera at a gas station that showed her vehicle near Carmel, California that Friday.
Safe and sound: She was found breathing, conscious, and able to walk and talk
Her sister shared her relief on Facebook saying: ‘She’s a fighter and she fought this long and she will continue to. It’s not going to be an easy recovery’
The Sheriff’s office confirmed that she was found and transported to a nearby hospital
Later that day her cell phone mysteriously pinged in Santa Cruz County.
She said she lost control of her white Jeep Patriot near Nacimiento Fergusson Road at the south end of Big Sur State Park.
She was found conscious and breathing, lying outside of her car by the hikers after 6:30pm on Friday.
Rescuers on the beach said she was found in stable condition and she was treated for a concussion and shoulder injury.
The family started a GoFundMe page to aid in financing Angela’s search efforts that will now be used to help in her recovery process.
‘In her accident, she has lost everything. Including her car, which was her livelihood. I’m sharing this again because any little bit helps, it will all be going my sister who lost so much and gained so much all in one time. This is very traumatic and will be a slow recovery process,’ her sister Isabel wrote.
‘Thank you all for everything … for her rescue and for bringing her up the cliff. She says she met so many beautiful people,’ Isabel added on Facebook thanking everyone who aided in the search and rescue effort.