Woman rescued after six days in the Arizona desert

A severely injured woman was rescued after surviving six days alone in the Arizona desert, authorities have revealed.

The unidentified 53-year-old was driving on a highway near Wickenburg, Arizona, on 12 October when she lost control of her vehicle in wet conditions and veered off the road, through a fence and over a 50ft cliff edge.

The vehicle crashed into a grove of mesquite trees, leaving the driver “suffering from broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder and a head injury”, Reuters reports.

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She later told authorities that she remained with the vehicle for several days, drinking river water and eating grass to stay alive, hoping that the wreckage would be spotted from the highway, a local ABC affiliate reports.

Despite sustaining serious injuries in the crash, she was able to pull herself from the wreck and begin walking in the direction of nearby railway tracks, where she hoped she could find help.

However, she was only able to walk for around 500 yards, before collapsing in a dry riverbed.

On 18 October, Zach Moralez, a highway operations technician, was helping his rancher brother round up a stray cow along the same stretch of highway when he spotted the broken fence.

“I said, ‘There’s tracks right off the edge of the road through the fence,’” Moralez told the Associated Press. “I said, ‘Hop over that hill, I bet you there’s a car down there.’”

Joined by another roadworker and a state trooper, the group discovered the empty wreckage and began searching the dense brush for signs of the driver. When they found the woman, she was lying in the creek bed, dressed in shorts and flip-flops and covered in dirt.

“She was in the fetal position, and there was no movement,” Moralez said, adding: “I don’t know if she could have made it there another night.”

Although “lethargic and in pain”, the 53-year-old was “alert enough to open her eyes and answer questions”, CBS reports.

The men called emergency services, and the woman was airlifted to hospital by helicopter to receive urgent treatment for severe dehydration.

The Arizona Department of Public Safety declined to comment on the woman’s current condition, but commended the men who found her.

“Due to their outstanding efforts, this woman’s life was saved,” said department director Frank Milstead.