Up to five dead in Mendocino Coast crash

A vehicle crash on a remote section of the northern Mendocino Coast killed five people Monday when their car plunged over a cliff onto the rocky shoreline below, the CHP said.

It was unclear late Monday who was inside the Ford Explorer when it went over the edge of a cliff from a pullout off Highway 1 and plummeted 100 feet onto its roof as the tide was coming in.

There were initial reports of at least one child being found in the wreckage between the communities of Westport and Rockport.

The CHP said a motorist spotted the car at 3:39 p.m., launching an hourslong recovery that continued past dark, drawing multiple agencies to the remote scene about 30 minutes from Fort Bragg. Firefighters rappelled down the cliff to reach the partially submerged car, said CHP Officer Brian Henderson, part of two-man helicopter crew from the agency’s Northern Division Air Operations base in Redding that participated in the recovery.

By late Monday, three of the occupants had been extricated. Two others remained in the car as a tow truck was preparing to winch the vehicle up to land.

It was unclear when the crash occurred, and it’s possible the Explorer had been on the shoreline for some time before anyone noticed it, Henderson said.