Dramatic video shows 2 people being rescued from car after surviving 250-foot drop into California canyon

Two people were rescued by helicopter after their car plunged more than 200 feet into a California canyon, dramatic videos showed.

The incident took place Tuesday afternoon in Los Angeles County along the Angeles Forest Highway, around the 19th mile marker. A vehicle containing two people somehow went over the side of the road, falling about 250 feet down an 800-foot slope into Monkey Canyon.

Despite the drop, both patients were “ambulatory and in mild distress” when rescued by the Los Angeles County Fire Department (LACFD) said on Twitter.  

The Special Enforcement Bureau, a branch of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, shared dramatic footage of the rescue. One thirty-second clip showed one of the bureau’s tactical medics hoisting a person into the agency’s helicopter. SEB also shared an image of the upside-down car that the passengers were rescued from. 

More footage showed the rescue team hovering over the crash site in a green and yellow helicopter, and provided an exterior view of the rescue.  

“Saving lives (is) priority 1,” the bureau wrote on Twitter. 

The bureau said on Twitter that both patients were airlifted to a local trauma center after they were hoisted from the vehicle. Officials told CBS Los Angeles that they were brought to Huntington Memorial Hospital, and said they are conscious and alert. No further details on their conditions were provided.

The people in the car have not yet been publicly identified, and it’s not clear what caused the crash.