Four people were injured — two critically — when a vehicle crashed over the side of Gibraltar Road in the mountains above Santa Barbara on Saturday afternoon.
The incident occurred shortly after noon near the intersection with East Camino Cielo, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The vehicle ended up on its roof 40-50 feet below the roadway, the CHP said.
Firefighters from the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, Los Padres National Forest, the city of Santa Barbara, and the Montecito Fire Protection District responded to the crash.
Two males suffered major injuries, another had moderate injuries, and a fourth had minor injuries, Mike Eliason, a County Fire Department spokesman, told Noozhawk.
The victims had to be extricated from the vehicle wreckage, Eliason said.
A Calstar medical helicopter and the county’s Copter 3 were dispatched to the scene to airlift the most seriously injured patients to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital.
Landing zones were set up on Camino Cielo, and those patients were being ferried to the helicopters by AMR ambulances, Eliason said.
Camino Cielo was shut down briefly to allow the aircraft to land and take off.
The other two patients were to be transported to the hospital by AMR ambulance.
Cause of the crash was under investigation by the CHP.
Check back with Noozhawk for updates to this story.
— Noozhawk executive editor Tom Bolton can be reached at tbolton@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
