Woman is rescued after car plunge

The car's fall was halted by a wall and thick vegetation

A woman has been found alive two days after her car plunged to the bottom of an embankment in the Peak District, rescue officials said.

Helen Sykes, 46, from Dronfield, went off the road on Sunday afternoon after going out alone for a drive.

A farmer reported seeing her car below Longstone Edge on Tuesday afternoon and mountain rescue teams were called.

Mrs Sykes was taken by air ambulance to Nottingham's Queen's Medical Centre with non-life threatening injuries.

It was just by chance we spotted her Roger Cox, farmer

Once emergency services arrived on the scene, Mrs Sykes had to be cut from the vehicle.

Edale Mountain rescue team leader Ian Bunting said: "The car was about two-thirds down a steep, 200ft grass embankment.

"We managed to put her on to a stretcher, using ropes, and got her to the waiting air ambulance which took her to hospital.

"It's the sort of thing we train for and do on a regular basis for walkers and climbers but this situation was quite a rarity."

The farmer who found her, Roger Cox, said he stumbled on the woman while looking for his animals.

Reported missing

"It was just by chance we spotted her because we were looking in a different part of the field and wouldn't normally have known she was there.

"She didn't appear to have any visible injuries but she said she had come over the edge and knocked her head but she had clearly come a long way down."

Almost 20 rescuers, including some from Buxton Mountain Rescue and Edale Mountain Rescue, were involved in helping pull the woman from Longstone Edge.

Mrs Sykes, who had been reported missing by friends, is not believed to have any local family.