Man Freed in Rescue From Canyon Ledge : Accident: A 20-year-old is pinned when pickup plunges down embankment. Two friends in the crash search for help and bring it back.

Three people out driving in the wee hours of Christmas morning were injured when their pickup plunged down a 150-foot embankment in a secluded canyon, forcing two of the victims to hike out in search of help while their friend lay trapped for hours in the chilly countryside, fire officials said Tuesday.

Alex Castro, 20, of Tustin was pinned in his Toyota pickup in Black Star Canyon, about 5 miles outside of Silverado Canyon, for more than six hours, said Orange County Fire Capt. Dan Young. Castro was freed after a dramatic rescue in which firefighters delicately removed him as the truck hung on a ledge near a 30-foot drop.

Castro suffered a broken left leg and other injuries, Young said. He was taken by helicopter to Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo, where he underwent surgery Tuesday night. He was listed in stable condition.

The other occupants of the truck, Laura Sosa, 18, and Oswald Dorante, both of Santa Ana, were treated for exposure, cuts and bruises at Saddleback Memorial Medical Center in Laguna Hills and released. Young said Sosa also sustained a severe cut on his head that required stitches.

Young said the accident occurred about 4 a.m. when the driver of the truck, believed to be Castro, missed a turn on Maple Springs Truck Trail, a dirt road past a chain-link gate off Black Star Canyon Road.

Plunged into darkness, Sosa and Dorante decided to wait until sunrise shortly before 7 a.m. before they headed out into the wilderness to seek help, Young said.

Shortly before 8:30 a.m., the pair reached a U.S. Forest Service station at the end of the canyon and told rangers of the accident. The rangers called 911 and joined Orange County firefighters and a Marine Corps search-and-rescue helicopter in the painstaking search for the pickup.

For more than two hours, rescue workers and the Marine helicopter scanned thousands of acres in the general direction of the accident, Young said. Dorante and Sosa, apparently unfamiliar with the canyons, could not provide the exact location of the crash.

Young said the search was further hindered by dozens of derelict vehicles in the canyon, which forced helicopter crews to make careful scans before picking out the right one.

“There’s 30 or 40 vehicles out there over the side,” Young said. “Over the years, the vehicles have gone over and there’s no way to get them back up.”

At 10:39 a.m., the Marine helicopter spotted the wrecked pickup with Castro pinned inside, Young said. Paramedics and fire rescue personnel who had gone along for the search found the truck in peril of plunging even deeper into the canyon.

“The rescuers said the truck had gone down about 150 feet, and while they were working, trying to cut (Castro) loose, they saw that out of the driver’s door was a drop about 30 feet straight down,” Young said. “It was rather precarious trying to get him out of there safely, both for Castro and the two firefighters” who rescued him.

Young said the rescuers had to secure the truck with ropes to prevent it from sliding into the canyon, while simultaneously tending to Castro.

The rescue took about 30 minutes, and paramedics spent several more minutes securing Castro to a Stokes basket, a heavy-duty stretcher used for airlifts and victims trapped in dangerous situations, Young said. Paramedics designated Castro as a trauma patient after diagnosing his broken leg and finding that he was suffering from exposure.

“The temperature (early Tuesday) was in the area of 38 degrees, but when you get down into those canyons it can be 10 degrees less,” Young said.

“They were pretty lucky, all things considered,” Young said.

It was not immediately clear why the three men were out in the canyon at 4 a.m., but Young said volunteer firefighters in the area said it is common for young people to go to the canyon on Christmas, Easter and other holidays to watch the sunrise. Several other vehicles carrying young people apparently were in the canyon early Tuesday before sunrise, Young said.