Man 'intentionally' drives Tesla off steep cliff with children, wife inside

A 41-year-old Indian-origin man drove his Tesla off a cliff with his two children and wife still inside the car in California, US.

The man, identified as Dharmesh A. Patel, and his family miraculously survived the almost fatal drop and are undergoing treatment at a hospital.

The vehicle came crashing down more than 250 feet off the Northern California cliff along the Pacific Coast Highway. The rescue operation involved multiple firefighters and a helicopter crew. They had to climb at least 250–300 feet down the steep cliff to pull the family out.

The firefighters rappelled down the cliff and retrieved the two children, a 4-year-old girl and a 9-year-old boy, while the helicopter rescue team helped the adults. Brian Pottenger, the incident commander for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, has called their survival a miracle, per a report in NDTV.

He added that it is "very rare" for people to survive such an incident. "We were actually shocked when we discovered survivable victims in the vehicle. So that was a hopeful moment for us," Pottenger said.

The children suffered only minor injuries in the incident, but the adults had to be airlifted to the nearest hospital. Pottenger believes that the children managed to survive almost unscathed because of their car seats.

Meanwhile, Patel has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and child abuse. He will be sent to the San Mateo County Jail once he is discharged from the hospital. It remains unclear why he took such a step.

The police said that the incident was "an intentional act." The authorities are planning to charge Patel with three counts of attempted murder and two counts of child abuse.

The car that the family was travelling in was a Tesla Model Y. Elon Musk responded to the reports of the family's miraculous escape. Musk called it "good news" after a Twitter user tagged him in a tweet about the incident.