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A snowplow driver may have saved a woman’s life after the plow operator slammed into a car completely buried in snow, only to discover the woman inside the vehicle.

The plow operator was clearing roads in South Lake Tahoe, Calif., earlier this month when he slammed into the illegally parked, totally snow-covered vehicle.

“After digging out the driver side, a 48-year old woman was discovered inside the vehicle,” the City of South Lake Tahoe said in a statement.

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The unidentified woman told police officers she had been in the car for about four to five hours, but authorities believe the woman was actually living in the vehicle.

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“She wasn’t trying to get out,” city spokesman Chris Fiore said on Wednesday. “She wasn’t making any noise.”

The city’s Public Works director said illegally parked cars not only hamper the snow removal process but are “dangerous for everyone involved.”

“One of the biggest issues we’ve had this winter is illegally parked cars,” Ray Jarvis said in a statement.

The woman declined medical attention and left the scene of the incident after the vehicle was towed.

“We say this all the time, but it is so important to get cars out of snow removal areas and for everyone to be careful using vehicles during major snow events,” Fiore said. “Being inside of a buried car, or starting a car buried in snow could have deadly consequences.

“The truth is that this could have turned out very differently,” he said.

–with a file from the Associated Press