A suspected drunken driver somehow lived through a fiery 600-foot fall from a winding rural highway in Northern California — and is now facing legal consequences, authorities said.
The dramatic crash happened earlier last week on Highway 263 in rural Siskiyou County, where police said a man behind the wheel of a truck left the roadway and plunged over a steep cliff, narrowly escaping what could have been a fatal wreck.
The white pickup was torn apart, split in two and left as a mangled, scorched heap of metal — yet the driver, whose name has not been released, survived the crash.
“Remarkably, the driver survived what could have easily been a fatal crash,” California Highway Patrol said.
Authorities arrested the driver on suspicion of DUI.
Images of the devastating crash shared online by the CHP show tire marks drifting onto the right shoulder of curvy Highway 263. The tracks appear to indicate the driver steered back onto the pavement, then overcorrected and hit the brakes before launching off the left side of the road.
The truck careened down a steep slope roughly comparable to the height of a 60-story building, shedding its rear section as it barreled down the near-vertical hillside before coming to rest on a dirt track in a ravine below.
The crushed cab burst into flames amid the surrounding brush, leaving only the burned-out front section of the pickup, according to CHP photos posted on Instagram. Officials did not disclose whether the driver suffered injuries.
CHP said it was a miracle the man survived.
“This crash serves as a powerful reminder that impaired driving puts not only your life at risk, but also the lives of everyone else on the road,” CHP said in a statement.
“Choosing to drive under the influence can have devastating consequences that are entirely preventable.”
Commenters on CHP’s Instagram post for the crash said an angel must’ve been looking out for the suspected DUI driver.
“Someone had the good lord not just watching over, but creating a bubble wrap in cabin,” said one commenter.
The scary Siskiyou County crash came just weeks after a suspected DUI crash in May claimed the lives of five teenagers and left one badly injured in rural Santa Barbara County.
The tragic Santa Maria Valley accident prompted local officials to warn of the dangers of alcoholism, which they said was a “major theme” in the area.
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