Car flies off California cliff into Pacific Ocean, officials say. Rescuers save driver

A California Highway Patrol officer followed fresh skid marks on Highway 1 to the edge of a cliff, discovering a wreck submerged in the Pacific Ocean, authorities said.

The officer spotted the driver, who had climbed out of the wreckage, clinging to the rocks below, prompting a rescue by firefighters, KCBS Radio reported.

The driver, rescued near Devil’s Slide about 11 miles south of San Francisco, was in stable condition, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection reported on Twitter.

The highway, which had been closed during the Nov. 4 rescue, reopened about 9:40 a.m., KTVU reported. The accident took place about 8:20 a.m.

“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,” Lt. Eamonn Allen of the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office told KCBS Radio.

A sheriff’s department drone checked the sunken vehicle to make certain no one was inside, KRON reported.

This story was originally published November 4, 2021 at 12:35 PM with the headline "Car flies off California cliff into Pacific Ocean, officials say. Rescuers save driver."