Texting and driving is bad. Texting and walking is worse, if you
live at the edge of a 60-foot cliff.
Maria Pestrikoff, of Kodiak, Alaska, was walking to the edge of
a cliff near her home on Sept. 17 to discard a cigarette butt --
but she walked too far. She slipped on the grass and
plummeted.
Maria Pestrikoff
"She was in the rocks between the boulders and she was calling
for help," her friend Anthony Burke told Daily
Mirror [paywall]. "She was screaming in agony."
Rescue workers swooped in to rescue Pestrikoff with ropes, and
firefighters rappelled and used ladders to get down to her
location. They had to move quickly, because Pestrikoff was injured
and the tide below will creeping towards her.
She was stabilized, put in a stretcher and lifted up the cliff.
She sustained several injuries, but was in stable condition after
the rescue.
"The tide was right up to her toes by the time they were able to
get her out," Burke said.