Woman rescued after car plunges 100m down cliff on treacherous Tasmanian road

A Tasmanian woman is lucky to be alive after her car plunged 100m down a cliff on a bendy and treacherous stretch of road.

A woman has suffered head and spinal injuries after her car plunged 100m down a cliff on a treacherous Tasmanian road.

Emergency crews were called to a cliff near St Marys, on the east coast, on Wednesday night after the 63-year-old’s family raised the alarm.

Officers were told the woman had not arrived at Bicheno as planned.

The woman suffered serious head and spinal injuries. Picture: Tasmania Police

Her family raised the alarm when she failed to turn up as expected. Picture: Tasmania Police

She was travelling in her 2002 White Toyota LandCruiser on Elephant Pass Rd when the dramatic accident occurred.

Her car was found about 100m down a “heavily wooded cliff face, on a sweeping bend of road”, police said.

“Police, with the assistance of other emergency services personnel, SES volunteers and vertical rescue personnel from the Blackwood Mine, descended the steep cliff face to the location of the crashed vehicle,” Inspector Michael Johnston said.

The car she was travelling in. Picture: Tasmania Police

Early reports suggest she failed to negotiate a bend. Picture: Tasmania Police

“When rescuers reached the woman, she had self-exited the vehicle which was significantly damaged. She was safely stretchered up the cliff with a rope and pulley system.”

The woman sustained head and spinal injuries that were serious but not life-threatening.

Early investigations suggest the woman failed to negotiate a bend in the road, and her car collided with a wire rope safety barrier and rolled down the cliff face.