Firefighters are rappelling down an embankment along state Highway 9 in the Santa Cruz Mountains this afternoon to recover a body from a pickup truck that tumbled off the roadway, a CHP spokesman said.
Cal Fire and Santa Clara County fire personnel are trying to reach the truck, which fell about 125 feet down an embankment, CHP Officer Chris Falkowski said.
The identity or sex of the victim is not yet known, nor is the approximate time of the accident, which happened in the area of Heather Heights Road near the border of Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties, Falkowski said.
Cal Fire employees were driving on the highway on their way to an unrelated non-injury accident when they saw fresh skid marks leading off the roadway, Falkowski said.
The firefighters went down the hillside and found the pickup truck, which had overturned onto its roof, and found the deceased person inside, Falkowski said.
The CHP was notified of the crash at 9:18 a.m.
Falkowski said the truck is lodged in a steep, heavily wooded area just east of where Highway 9 converges with state Highway 35.
