A rescuer told Fox News it was "nothing short of a miracle" the four passengers inside the Tesla survived the fall.
San Mateo County Sheriff's Office via AP
Four Tesla passengers survived a 250-foot drop off a cliff known as Devil's Slide on Monday, according to Cal Fire.
A Tesla that was carrying two adults and two minors plunged down the cliff on Monday morning, Cal Fire's San Mateo branch reported. An official at the scene said that the children in the vehicle were 4 and 9, per KRON4 in San Francisco, though the identities of the passengers have not been revealed.
The four passengers were rescued from the vehicle via helicopter, Cal Fire said. The passengers had been in the car for more than an hour, ABC News reported.
—CAL FIRE CZU (@CALFIRECZU) January 2, 2023
The car was traveling southbound along California's Highway 1 near the Tom Lantos Tunnels, Cal Fire said. The highway runs along the state's coast.
Brock Sommerset, a man claiming to be part of the rescue party, shared a video that appears to show the rescue mission.
Spokespeople for Cal Fire and San Mateo's Sheriff's office did not respond to a request for comment from Insider ahead of publication.
—Brock Sommerset (@BrockSommerset) January 3, 2023
San Mateo's Sheriff's Office told NBC the two children were uninjured. The two adults were in critical condition upon recovery, but were later found to have suffered non-life-threatening injuries, per NBC.
Robin Johnson, who said she witnessed of the accident, told NBC that she saw the Tesla "driving extremely fast" toward an exit on California Highway 1 before the electric-car went "over the edge and straight down" the cliff. It is unclear whether the car was using Tesla Autopilot, the automaker's driver-assist system.
Coastside Fire Protection Battalion Chief Brian Pottenger told Fox News that it was remarkable the passengers had survived the 250-foot fall.
"We come out here, unfortunately, all too often for things like this," he said. "And this, this was nothing short of a miracle that they survived."
