Driver, pregnant passenger plunge 500 feet down hillside above Sylmar

Credit KTLA Ch5 by: Tony Kurzweil

A couple plunged roughly 500 feet down a canyon road in the Angeles National Forest above Sylmar late Tuesday night, leaving the driver and his passenger injured.

The crash was reported just before midnight after the car careened down the hillside near Kagel Truck Trail and Little Tujunga Canyon Road.

The driver said he lost traction while driving along a curve and went over the side.

“Somehow I’m alive,” said Christian Hernandez. “I had to climb up the hill … and I’m here, thank God.”

His passenger, identified by freelance media firm KNN News as a pregnant woman in her 30s, was trapped inside the vehicle and in need of help.

Hernandez said it took him about 30 minutes to crawl up the hill, where he waved someone down.

“And after that it took another like 30 or 40 minutes for the cops and ambulance to show up,  because there’s no signal up here,” Hernandez said.

Rescue crews respond to a woman injured in Sylmar on July 29, 2025. (KNN News)

Video showed a rescue team rappelling down to the vehicle, where the woman was loaded onto a gurney and hoisted up the hillside. The unidentified woman was then taken by helicopter to a local hospital in unknown condition.

She was conscious and breathing during the rescue, KNN reported. Hernandez sustained only minor injuries and was picked up at the scene by family members.