Man survives three-day ordeal after vehicle plummets off of Gibraltar Road in Santa Barbara

A 48-year-old man is lucky to be alive after the car he was driving plummeted over the side of Gibraltar Road on Wednesday.

Santa Barbara County firefighters said the man’s car ended up 300 feet over the side of the roadway.

“It was up on Gibralter Road just before you reach where the Rattlesnake Trail hits Gibralter Road,” Santa Barbara County Firefighter Ryan Lynch said.

Merely surviving the crash wasn’t all that was in store for the man.

On Saturday, three days after the crash, the man somehow made it back up to the road where two bystanders saw him and called 9-1-1.

“When we arrived, the victim was underneath a sleeping bag, obviously dehydrated and hypothermic,” Lynch said.

The man was taken to the hospital and his condition has not yet been released.

It’s unclear what caused his car to veer off of the road, but Lynch says the area where the crash occurred has a reputation.

“That is a common place for vehicles to have accidents. There is a lot of debris down there and several old vehicles are already down there,” Lynch said.

Crews were able to locate the car and made sure there were no other occupants inside.