A US woman who crashed her car in the wilderness of the Rocky Mountains has survived for five days by sucking rainwater from her hair. Cynthia Blair-Hoover suffered 11 broken ribs, a punctured lung and several broken vertebrae after her VW Passat went flying off a cliff and rolled 350ft down the side of a hill.
The 52-year-old was left unconscious as the car ended up near a mine in Colorado. She had no food and faced rain, freezing temperatures and snow, as well as the threat of mountain lions and bears. The victim managed to stay alive by draining the water from her hair into her mouth.
She said she had armed herself with a golf club to protect herself if wild animals approached. Ms Blair-Hoover eventually managed to crawl 450 yards to the mine, which was open for tours.
At the mine, she heard voices and cried out for help. After several minutes, people heard her pleas and found her barely alive. Rescuers said her mouth was full of dirt from when she had dragged herself along the ground.
Fire chief Gary Allen, who took part in her rescue, said: "She had a heck of a will to live. What amazed me was she survived the rain, fog, sleet and hail. We have mountain lions, bears and other critters up here. It is a miracle she wasn't mauled to death."
Ms Blair-Hoover, who had crashed her car after swerving to avoid hitting a deer, is now recovering in hospital in Colorado.
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