By Rachel Swan
The San Francisco Chronicle
OAKLAND, Calif. — Rescue teams from multiple agencies scrambled down steep terrain Sunday and saved two teens who drove off a cliff in the Oakland hills and plunged 500 feet before their car landed, top down, in a ravine.
The accident happened at 11:36 a.m. when a boy and girl veered off the road while speeding south on Grizzly Peak Boulevard at Fish Ranch Road in a Ford Escape.
The careening vehicle left no skid marks, according to East Bay Regional Park District spokeswoman Carolyn Jones, because the driver didn’t hit the brakes.
“They were very, very lucky — extremely lucky,” said Mark Tait, an East Bay Regional Park District firefighter who helped with the rescue. The effort also drew crews from the Oakland police and fire departments, the California Highway Patrol, and the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office.
The two were hoisted from the ravine by ropes.
The girl had injuries on her wrist and hand and was taken in a helicopter to John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek. The boy had a possible hip fracture and was transported by ambulance to a nearby hospital, Jones said. Their names and ages were not immediately released.
Jones said stolen cars are often pushed from that cliff, but in this case, the car wasn’t stolen.
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