NEW BERN, N.C., Nov. 15 (UPI) -- A 9-year-old North Carolina girl survived on Pop-Tarts, water and Gatorade for two days while trapped in a wrecked car with her dead father, police said.
Jordan Landon was found alive about 5:45 p.m. Sunday off Highway 55 in eastern North Carolina's Craven County, Greenville's WCTI-TV reported.
The car had crashed about 10 p.m. Friday, leaving her father, Douglas Landon, dead, the North Carolina Highway Patrol said.
"She said she tried to dig her way out, but she couldn't," a family friend, Kevin Brinson told the TV station.
After filing a missing person report, the girl's mother, Claudette Leohmann, went out to search for her daughter and Doug Landon, only to be involved in an accident herself less than 100 feet from the car Jordan was trapped in. But no one saw Doug Landon's car down the embankment.
"I'm sure Jordan could hear the sirens and everything and hear the police talking on the radio and nobody knew she was there," said Butch Morse, Doug Landon's employer and friend.
An investigating officer estimated Landon had been traveling at a high rate of speed when he crashed. Police were looking into driver fatigue was a contributing factor, WCTI-TV said.
