A woman had an incredible escape after her car plunged 490 ft into a valley after coming off the road.
The 28-year-old driver, who has not been named, is lucky to be alive after her Audi landed at the bottom of the hill in Sussex, ending up completely smashed and broken from the impact.
Miraculously, the woman walked away with just cuts and bruises despite the black Audi A3 being a write-off. The car bounced down the steep incline, losing all its windows in the impact and leaving a trail of loose car parts.
Somehow, the woman is believed to have been thrown out of the car which saved her life as the vehicle tumbled down Ditchling Beacon hill, near Ditchling in East Sussex.
It happened at around 2.30am on April 1 but because it was so dark, emergency services took around 20 minutes searching for the vehicle. The woman was taken to Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton just before 5am.
Paul Tharman, who lives nearby, left for work at 4am and witnessed emergency services rescuing the woman. He said:
“If she didn’t know the roads up there it could have taken her by surprise. She’s lucky to be alive going over the edge like that.”
A South East Coast Ambulance Service spokesman said:
“We responded with three cars and an ambulance as it was difficult to locate.
Because of the difficulties on scene our HART (Hazardous Area Response Team) also responded as specialist equipment was required to reach the patient down the steep incline.
A 28-year-old woman was found to have been ejected from the vehicle with multiple injuries.”
A Sussex Police spokesman said:
“A car was reported to have crashed and rolled 150 metres down a steep bank.
A 28-year-old woman was released from the vehicle and taken to hospital with cuts and bruises.”
[Images: Terry Applin/Brighton Argus/Solent News]