North Carolina woman survives 5 days in truck wreckage
Found in a steep ravine by a rescuer, she is hospitalized with fractures but is expected to fully recover.
RALEIGH, N.C. — Amber Pennell was trapped for five days in her mangled pickup, hidden under vines in a steep ravine just 150 feet from a four-lane highway in western North Carolina.
Seriously injured and without food and water, she might have died if rescuer Tommy Courtner hadn't spotted tire tracks and damaged foliage by the side of the road Monday.
When he stepped into the ravine to investigate further, he saw part of a white truck obscured by kudzu. Courtner called out, and Pennell raised her hand from the wreckage.
Pennell went missing a week ago after stopping at a Wal-Mart on her way home from work at a barbecue restaurant in Lenoir, about 60 miles northeast of Asheville.
Keith Davenport, Caldwell County's emergency service manager, said the first thing Pennell asked about was her children, Gracelyn, 2, and Cameron, 1. Gracelyn turns 3 on Friday.
A family friend said her husband waited by the roadside as the rescuers pulled her out of the ravine.
"I love them so much. They did the best job. They didn't give up," Mitchell Pennell told reporters Monday night. "I'm so thankful my baby's alive."
By Wednesday, Pennell, 21, was recovering in a hospital from a fractured skull and limbs. She was expected to recover fully with rehabilitation.
The cause of the wreck was being investigated.
