Woman plunges off Welsh cliff and miraculously escapes fireball wreckage

Natalia Sidorska is speaking out on her experience – and the very unlikely saviour

A woman has shared her extraordinary survival story after her car plunged 250ft down a cliff off one of North Wales’ most notorious roads. For Natalia Sidorska, driving had always been an escape – a way to destress whenever things got a little too much. Living in Wales at the time with her fiancé, the 32-year-old would often head out alone on the open road to clear her mind.

On the evening of the crash in June 2025, Natalia set out on what she expected to be a routine drive along the Horseshoe Pass in Denbighshire. “I hadn’t driven on this stretch before,” she said. “I didn’t realise how sharp the bend ahead was. By the time I reacted, it was too late.”

The car left the road and plunged down a steep hillside, dropping an estimated 250ft before bouncing multiple times across rocks and uneven ground and eventually coming to rest in a field far below.

Inside the vehicle, Natalia remembers brief, fragmented moments during the fall. “I remember the detail very well, I don’t know why – my engagement ring started slipping off my finger,” she said. “So instinctively, I gripped the steering wheel tighter and just closed my eyes.”

When the car finally stopped, Natalia realised she was trapped inside the wreckage. “I found myself underneath the back seat,” she recalled. “That’s when I heard a clicking sound and realised there was a fire. I thought: ‘Oh my God, that’s it – I’m done.'”

Feeling desperate, se tried to call for help, shouting to Siri to contact emergency services on 112, but there was no response. Her phone – an iPhone 16 Pro Max mounted on the windscreen – had been dislodged in the impact and was no longer within reach.

Unable to move properly, and with her left leg badly injured, Natalia tried desperately to free herself. She attempted to break a window but lacked the strength. She then tried the door handle.

“It wouldn’t open,” she said. “I genuinely thought I wasn’t going to get out.”

At one point, Natalia admitted that she believed she was going to die. “I tried to fall asleep, hoping the smoke would poison me before the flames started to hurt me,” she shared.

Then, in a final moment of clarity, she realised the doors were still locked. She unlocked them and tried again. “This time it opened,” she said. “I managed to crawl out and roll myself down the field to get away.”

Seconds later, the car erupted in flames. “As soon as I lifted my head and looked back, the car exploded at that very moment… If I hadn’t realised the door was locked, I would still have been inside.”

What she later described as an incredibly fortunate chain of events became even more significant when she learned her phone had automatically triggered a crash detection alert during the fall. The alert was sent to her then fiancé, who was able to pinpoint her exact location and alert emergency services.

Emergency crews arrived around 20 minutes later, including police, ambulance services, fire crews and mountain rescue teams from NEWSAR, called due to the remote and difficult terrain.

“The crash was at 10pm,” she said. “If the phone hadn’t detected it, I don’t know how long I would have been lying there. It’s 250 metres down and there aren’t many people passing at that time. It saved my life.”

Remarkably, her phone also survived the crash and was later recovered and returned to her by investigators. She spoke about the ordeal using that same device.

But survival marked only the beginning of a much longer battle. Make sure you never miss Wales’ biggest updates by getting our daily newsletter

Natalia suffered a severe open ankle dislocation that required urgent and complex surgery. Weeks later, she developed an E. coli infection and was transferred to Liverpool for specialist treatment.

Surgeons were forced to remove her talus bone, and due to the infection she could not be fitted with metal implants. She now lives with an external fixator – a large metal frame around her leg with 13 wires passing through skin and bone.

“I’m hoping to have it removed next month and then I will be in a cast,” she said. “But the crash changed every aspect of my life. I will have a lifetime disability – my leg is now shorter and my ankle is fused.”

She also sustained two spinal injuries, which continue to cause ongoing pain. For now, she cannot sleep in a bed and instead rests in a reclining chair.

Reflecting on everything that has happened, she said it still feels difficult to process. “I would never believe a story like this myself,” she said. “I’m very sceptical when it comes to things that sound like a movie – but I’ve actually been in one.”

But, she added, the most difficult part has not been the crash itself.

“Strangely, it’s not the accident that was the hardest thing – it’s everything that came after.”

In the days following the incident, while she was still in hospital, her fiancé ended their relationship. She also lost her home and was forced to relocate.

“I was living in a house he was renting, so I had to move,” she said.

Natalia spent months in hospital – including three months bed-bound – before eventually moving to Liverpool. She is now living in temporary accommodation with her 10-year-old son while waiting for suitable adapted housing.

“I’m currently waiting for accommodation,” she said. “It needs to be wheelchair accessible. I can’t just go into any property.”

Her independence has been heavily affected, with daily life now shaped around pain and mobility limitations. “I used to be out every day before the crash,” she said. “Now I have to choose the right moments depending on the pain.”

But her resilience has shone through as, despite everything, she has managed to return to driving. “It wasn’t as terrifying as I expected, because I knew I was the one who failed – not the car,” she said. “When my doctor told me I could drive an automatic again, I was relieved. I really missed it.”

Throughout her recovery, she has relied heavily on her family. Her parents cared for her son during her hospital stay despite their own health challenges, while her sister helped organise her move, transfer her medical care and secure a new school. For Natalia – they have been her saving grace.

“My family have been amazing,” she said. “My son, my parents, my sisters – they are my strength. Through it all they have been there. I couldn’t have done it without them. All this has just proved that family is everything.”