The two-door grey sedan plunged down the cliff just after 11 a.m. on Friday, the California Highway Patrol said in a news release. The sedan came to rest about 300 to 400 feet down an embankment near what's known as the Devil's Slide, an area of hairpin turns and steep seaside cliffs about 15 miles south of San Francisco.
Photos of the wreck posted by KTVU-TV show the car upside down but still visible in the water below.
Rescuers who reached the car on Friday found and recovered two bodies, while a third body was recovered Saturday after high tide created "incredibly dangerous" conditions, the highway patrol said.
Those killed in the crash were identified as 36-year-old Brylyn Aroma of Fort Riley, Kansas, 29-year-old Mohammad Noory, and 28-year-old Angelica Gacho, both of San Francisco.
Authorities initially closed the highway for one-way traffic on the south side of Devil's Slide around 2:45 p.m. Friday and later closed it in both directions as they investigated the crash and recovered the car and its passengers. The lanes were opened for traffic around 6:15 p.m.
California's Highway 1, also known as the Pacific Coast Highway, or the PCH, winds along picturesque and dangerous cliffsides. It's a popular route among tourists and locals alike traveling to places including Santa Barbara, Big Sur, Monterey, San Francisco, Mendocino and all the way up to the Oregon border.
Rescuers work on retrieving a destroyed Tesla sedan that had plunged off a cliff in an area called the Devil's Slide in San Mateo County, California January 2, 2023. San Mateo County Sheriff's Office
Previous crashes along Devil's Slide
A California doctor named Dharmesh Patel was charged with three counts of attempted murder in January 2023 after being accused of intentionally driving himself and his family off Devil's Slide. A judge granted him a mental health diversion, allowing him to avoid jail time in the crash that injured his wife and children, who were 4 and 7 years old at the time.
Brian Pottenger, a battalion chief with Cal Fire, has previously said that it's rare for anyone to survive a crash along Devil's Slide.
"We go there all the time for cars over the cliff and they never live," he said. "This was an absolute miracle."
Contributing: Thao Nguyen , Natalie Neysa Alund .
Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at sshafiq@gannett.com and follow her on X @saman_shafiq7.
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