Walking While Texting, Woman Plummets Off 60 Foot Cliff

We’ve all been warned of the dangers of texting while driving. Just ask Chance Bothe, the guy whose truck plummeted off a cliff while he was texting “I need to quit texting, because I could die in car accident.”

But what about the dangers of texting while… walking? Maria Pestrikoff was walking near the cliffs overlooking the water near her home when she neared the edge to flick a cigarette butt over the edge. She was texting, however, and went too close to the edge, slipping on some wet grass and plummeting 60 feet down the rocky ledge. Lodged between boulder, she called for help as the freezing tide crept in.

The Anchorage Daily News reports that the rescue was difficult, which rescuers having to rappel themselves down the cliffs to secure Pestrikoff before the water – just ten feet below – reached her.

“She was in the rocks between the boulders and she was calling for help,” her friend Anthony Burke, who discovered her, said. “She was screaming in agony.” Burke allegedly called the fire department, and Bayside Fire Department was the first to respond. After reviewing the situation, Chief Bob Himes said the Kodiak Fire Department was quickly summoned for its expertise in rope rescues. “It’s a very hard rescue,” Himes told The anchorage Daily. “It’s very technical, and it doesn’t happen that often. We rely on the city and the Coast Guard fire departments who have the manpower to do the training.”

Pestrikoff suffered multiple injuries, and was flown to Achorage Hospital after rescuers were able to stabilize her, secure her to a stretcher, and lift her back up the cliff. “The communication between departments was incredibly good,” Burke, who watched the rescue, commented. “The tide was right up to her toes by the time they were able to get her out.”