A woman survives six days in the Arizona desert after a car accident

31 October 2018 / 21:33 GMT

By David K. Li

A motorist survived alone for six heart-wrenching days along an isolated riverbed in Arizona after crashing through a fence and landing in a tree, announced Wednesday officials.

The 53-year-old unidentified woman lost control of her car on October 12 in Wickenburg, Arizona, about 65 miles north of Phoenix, on US Highway 60 near KP 117, Wickenburg, according to the Ministry of Security of Arizona.

She was wearing a t-shirt, shorts and flip-flops and had survived in the grass and in the water before being found close to a week later, said the lifeguard and local breeder David "DJ" Moralez.

"I do not know if she could have done it another night," 30-year-old NBC News Moralez told reporters. "She was in a pretty difficult shape when we found her."

The woman's car fell into a ravine about 50 meters "in a mesquite tree where she stayed suspended above the ground," said the department. She stayed in the car on top of a tree for several days before finally going out to seek help, authorities said.

Finally, on October 18th, a crew of the Department of Transportation (ADOT) of the State was already working along the US border to 60, bringing back a cow, when Moralez drove and saw his brother Zachary in this crew.

The breeder stopped to chat with his brother and, while they were ending their chance encounter, they spotted a hole in the fence where the car had crashed.

The brothers called 911 and finally found footprints on the bed of the Hassayampa River, which led them to the severely dehydrated woman sitting under a tree.

Her eyes were swollen and she could barely move with broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder and a head injury when brothers and security department soldier Caleb Hiegel reached her, according to Moralez.

"Will you help me, please," the woman asked, according to Moralez. "I said, that's the reason we're here." She said that she was screaming for help but that no one heard her. "

A helicopter headed for the riverbed and transported the woman by plane to a hospital.

"The diligence of the ADOT team and the teamwork of all involved is exemplary and deserves to be commended," said Colonel Frank Milstead of the US Department of Homeland Security. ;Arizona. "Thanks to their remarkable efforts, this woman's life has been saved."

Moralez, a sixth-generation cattle rancher, said his parents had always taught him and his brother to be aware of the environment and looking for a broken fence because the cows could come off.