A stolen vehicle was discovered crashed over the side of a rural road west of Goleta on Monday afternoon, but the occupants were nowhere to be found.

At about 2:30 p.m., the California Highway Patrol received a report of vehicle wreckage about 200 feet below Farren Road.

CHP officers and county sheriff’s deputies and firefighters were dispatched to the scene about a mile and half north of Calle Real.

Fire crews examined the wreckage and searched the surrounding area, but did not find anyone in or around the vehicle, according to Officer Shannan Sams.

The vehicle, a 2008 Dodge Caliber, was reported stolen out of Goleta at about 9:30 a.m. Monday, Sams said.

The vehicle was headed south on Farren Road when it launched over the edge, striking the wreckage of an old abandoned pickup truck on the side of the hill before overturning several times, according to officials at the scene.

Law enforcement officials were checking with local hospitals to see if any crash victims had shown up there, the CHP said.

The investigation was continuing Monday afternoon, and the sheriff’s Search and Rescue Team was called out to widen the search of the area.

— 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.