Car Plunged Over 150-Foot Embankment : 2 Women in Their 80s Survive 3 Days in Wilderness

Two women in their 80s, munching raspberry leaves and going without water, heartily survived a three-day wilderness ordeal last week after their car skidded down a 150-foot embankment and left them trapped in a thicket near the Klamath River in Siskiyou County.

When a rescue helicopter finally plucked them from the underbrush, Ellen Haskell, 84, and Maxine Langfield, 83, “attributed their survival to the fact that they were women and ‘Women are strong’ ,” said Sue Swaton, a spokeswoman for Siskiyou General Hospital in Yreka.

Langfield was in fair condition, suffering from dehydration and a few bruises and scrapes. But Haskell’s cuts and bruises weren’t serious enough to require hospitalization.

“They are both exhausted at this point, but that’s about all,” said Phyllis West, who owns a mobile home park in nearby Happy Camp where Langfield lives. “They just kept each other’s spirits alive and up, and they prayed, and they kept waiting for me to show up.”

Car Went off Road

The adventure started Tuesday morning, when Langfield drove from Happy Camp, just south of the Oregon border, to pick up Haskell at the Yreka bus depot. As the friends headed back along California 96, however, the car apparently “hit something slippery and went off the road,” a California Highway Patrol officer said.

The vehicle slid down an embankment and headed toward the river until it came to rest against a stand of trees. Officers said the car left no skid marks when it left the highway and its brown color made it blend into the underbrush.

Langfield was trapped in the car, according to friends, but had a blanket to keep her warm during nights when the temperature dropped to 40 degrees. Haskell, who was visiting from Kern County, tried unsuccessfully to make her way 75 feet through heavy brush to the river, and also failed at three or four attempts to scale the embankment.

CHP Copter Found Car

When the women were reported missing on Wednesday, a search by land failed to locate them. But the Highway Patrol helicopter spotted the car shortly before noon Friday, with Haskell standing alongside the vehicle, waving her arms. As soon as they were brought up the hill in large baskets dangling from the helicopter, the women bantered and chatted about their adventure with West, who had accompanied rescuers.

“They seemed to have a lot of confidence that I would find them,” West said, “or send somebody out to find them.”