Jordan Landon, a 9-year-old girl from North Carolina was trapped in a car for two days, being stuck by a seatbelt and lay next to the body of her dead father who was killed in the crash.
Police believe the accident happened at around 10:00 p.m. on Friday night in rural Craven County, North Carolina after the father, Douglas Landon, 39, and daughter left a gas station just a few miles from their home.
Jordan Landon survived in freezing temperatures by eating Pop-Tarts and drinking Gatorade.
Girl’s mother and Douglas Landon’s girlfriend of 20 years, Claudette Leohmann went looking for them when they didn’t return home and reported them missing to the police.
It was only on Sunday evening that Jordan Landon was rescued after a man walking along the road spotted the overturned 1995 Chevrolet Monte Carlo in the ten-foot ditch and called police.
At first, the emergency services believed both father and daughter were dead until Jordan Landon made a small whimper.
It took three fire and rescue teams more than an hour to free her from the car using hydraulic equipment
Sergeant David Clifton told ABC News: “For a nine-year-old to do that it’s pretty heroic. She was able to keep herself calm.
“The family member next to her is obviously deceased so that’s a lot to deal with, plus being dark at night.”
Authorities believe the car had been travelling at more than 100 mph when it ran off the road, down a steep bank and flipped when it hit a cluster of trees. It could not be seen from the road where it landed.
Over the weekend, temperatures dropped below 30 F at night.
Jordan Landon escaped the crash with non-life threatening injuries but was airlifted to Pitt County Memorial Hospital where she is being kept for observation. The girl is expected to make a full recovery.
Authorities believe that speed was a factor in the crash after discovering a speedometer that had jammed at 110 mph. They do not believe alcohol was involved.
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