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Jake Massey
Four people have miraculously survived after a Tesla plunged 250 feet off Devil's Slide cliff in California, USA.
Authorities arrived at the scene assuming they'd be retrieving bodies, until they noticed movement inside the vehicle.
Watch the incredible rescue effort here:
A number of agencies were deployed to the scene yesterday morning (Monday 2 January) after it was reported that there was a car over the cliff, which is located 15 miles south of San Francisco and is notorious for its fatal crashes.
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The Tesla sedan plummeted more than 250 feet from the highway and crashed into a rocky outcropping.
It appeared to have flipped numerous times before landing on its wheels just feet from the ocean.
"We go there all the time for cars over the cliff and they never live. This was an absolute miracle," Brian Pottenger, a battalion chief for Coastside Fire Protection District/Cal Fire told ABC 7 News.
"Every one of us was shocked when we saw movement out of the front windshield."
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A complex and lengthy rescue operation was then set in motion, after it was established that there were two adults and two children alive inside the vehicle.
More than 30 rescuers and three helicopters were involved in the operation, and because the car was jammed against the cliff, firefighters had to cut them from the car.
The children - a four-year-old girl and a nine-year-old boy - were then hoisted up the cliff on ropes in rescue baskets, before being rushed to hospital in an ambulance with musculoskeletal injuries.
"They were more scared than they were hurt," Pottenger said.
The adults had sustained traumatic injuries and were flown by helicopter to the hospital.
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It was not immediately clear whether the four people in the car were all related.
Pottenger added: "We did have one witness state the vehicle did veer off the road to the right-hand side, went up into the dirt area, and then proceeded to go off the cliff.
"We made the decision to hoist the children immediately instead of waiting for the ETA on the helicopters to arrive."
He continued: "We were actually very shocked when we found survivable victims in the vehicle. So that actually was a hopeful moment for us.
Speaking about the dangerous road, he stated: "I don't even like driving it. It's definitely a treacherous stretch of California."