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(Reuters) – A 53-year-old woman survived six days in the Arizona desert on a rainy day, after being rescued by a rancher and highway workers who were chasing a cow, police and local media said on Wednesday.
The woman, whose name was not disclosed, died Oct. 12 on a rain-slicked road near Wickenburg, Arizona, about 65 miles north of Phoenix, according to the Arizona Department of Public Safety.
The car plunged about 50 feet (15 m) down, "landing in a mesquite tree, where it remained suspended above the ground," DPS reported.
Seriously injured from the crash, the woman stayed in the DPS reported.
She made it 500 yards (457 m) before collapsing in a dry river bed.
On Oct. 18, Dave Moralez's rancher, 30, and a road maintenance crew were working to corral a cow on U.S. Highway 60 when they noticed a break in the fence near the road.
They saw the mangled car below, and when they climbed down, found footprints leading from the vehicle.
They followed the tracks of the severely dehydrated woman, wearing a T-shirt, shorts and flip flops, suffering from broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder, Moralez told a local NBC affiliate.
"I do not know if she could have made another night there," Moralez said.
Rescuers called for a helicopter and the woman was airlifted to a hospital.
DPS Director Frank Milstead praised the highway workers and the rancher.
"Due to their outstanding efforts, this woman's life was saved," he said in a statement.
Reporting by Andrew Hay in New Mexico; Editing by Peter Cooney
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