Elderly Woman Missing for Days After Car Crash Found Trapped in Ravine

An elderly woman who was missing for three days after crashing her car into a ravine has been found.

The 79-year-old veered off a road in the Ardèche department of southern France last Saturday and was not rescued until Tuesday this week, France Bleu reported.

The woman suffered only slight bruising despite crashing more than 100 feet down the ravine. She also survived without consuming food or water for three days.

Anthony Astor, a local law enforcement official who was among the first emergency responders to arrive at the scene, said he could not believe what had happened:

"I had never seen that, a real miracle," Astor told France Bleu.

The accident occurred as the woman was traveling from her second home in the hamlet of Dunière to her main residence in a commune known as Ollières-sur-Eyrieux (est. 3.4 miles (5.4km) away).

The road where she veered off is "very steep, winding and quite narrow," and there was no low wall in that section, the deputy mayor of Dunière, Patrick Marcoux, said.

Last Sunday, her neighbors in the hamlet grew concerned about her absence. And this Tuesday, her housekeeper found that the door of her home was locked.

The housekeeper alerted the woman's niece and police officials were informed, sparking a search and rescue effort.

Neighbors decided to assist with the search by walking along the path that the woman usually takes between her two homes.

It was one of these neighbors that noticed the smell of gasoline and some broken branches on the side of the road in one section. This individual quickly notified law enforcement officials and descended into the ravine to investigate, with Astor following behind.

"The neighbor made me understand that she was conscious, I quickly descended, despite the brambles, with a first aid kit and water," Astor said. "I found the lady sitting, completely dehydrated, she could barely speak. We tried to put water on the back of her neck, to reassure her. We couldn't go up it, it's too steep, it's already dangerous to go down."

"She was very lucky—we were lucky to find her so quickly, it could have been a tragedy," Astor said.

While the woman was severely dehydrated, she otherwise appeared to be in relatively good condition and was only complaining of slight chest pains. She was subsequently taken to a local hospital where medical staff examined her.

"She seemed relatively unscathed," said Marcoux, noting that this was "extraordinary" given the circumstances of the accident.