(Newser) – A truly astonishing tale of survival out of North Carolina: A 9-year-old girl managed to survive for more than 43 hours stuck upside down after the car her father was driving crashed. Jordan Landon was trapped by her seatbelt from about 10pm Friday until her Sunday night rescue, reports the Sun Journal. "She ate Pop Tarts and Gatorade while she waited for help," says a sergeant with the NC Highway Patrol. Her father, Douglas, 39, died from his injuries. "He was curled up in a ball with his arm right across his chest and his other arm pushed out across Jordan. He was trying to hold her and trying to keep her protected," says a family friend.

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Though alcohol is not currently suspected as a contributing factor, police recovered the speedometer, which was stuck at 110mph, reports ABC News. The car "ran off the road to the right and into a steep ditch bank. The car went airborne and was inverted as it hit a cluster of trees," the sergeant explained. A passerby happened to notice the 1995 Chevrolet Monte Carlo while out walking. Police initially believed Jordan was dead, until she managed to make a sound. The story's unbelievably bizarre twist: WCTI reports that Jordan's mother set out on Saturday to look for the pair—and crashed her own car 100 feet from where her daughter was pinned. She survived, but rescuers never spotted Landon's wreck. (Read more car crash stories.)

