RIVERSIDE, Calif., April 14 (UPI) -- A 6-year-old girl who was in a car crash that killed her mother and survived for 10 days at the bottom of a California canyon was recovering Wednesday.
Ruby Bustamante and her 26-year-old mother, Norma Bustamante, had last been seen in a Ford Taurus on April 4 in Indio, Calif., where they lived. A day later relatives reported them missing.
Officials believe the car skidded off a westbound lane of the 60 Freeway and plunged 300 feet down a cliff before slamming into a large tree in a region known as the Badlands.
Ruby apparently survived on Top Ramen and Gatorade, the Los Angeles reported Wednesday.
"The angels kept her alive. What else could you possibly say?" said Cathy Cooney, Bustamante's sister. "(Norma) was watching over her, too. She probably took a bag of goodies along for the long car ride because that's the type of mom she is, caring, and always thinking about her kids first."
On Tuesday highway workers found Ruby at the crash site.
