Alaska woman, Maria Pestrikoff, falls off 60-foot cliff while texting

GlobalPost

An Alaska woman is recovering after falling 60 feet down a rocky beach cliff while texting on her cellphone.

Maria Pestrikoff, of Anchorage, walked toward the steep drop in Kodiak to toss a cigarette butt while attempting to send a message and slipped on wet grass, The Daily Mail reported.

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A friend, Anthony Burke, heard her screams from the rocks below and called emergency responders.

"She was screaming in agony," he told The Daily Mail.

Rescue crews had to act quickly when they arrived. The tide was coming in, and Pestrikoff was lying in the rocks just 10 feet from the water's edge, the Kodiak Daily Mirror reported.

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Rescuers rappelled down the cliff and hauled Pestrikoff up in a stretcher to a waiting ambulance, Fox News reported.

"The tide was right up to her toes by the time they were able to get her out," Burke told the Daily Mirror.

Pestrikoff is recovering at a hospital in Anchorage.

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