On the morning of Saturday, June 8, Dan Ford and Jay Moio were at work – a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Audi dealership – when they heard distant cries. They had trouble locating the source and initially concluded that it was a prank. After some time, Ford and Moio kept hearing the yells and decided to leave their post to investigate. They walked to the train tracks behind the dealership, called out, and heard a woman reply, “I need help,” repeatedly. Realizing the seriousness of the situation, they called the police.

A woman had fallen about 40 feet down a steep hillside and into a tall, dense treeline in a nearby park. First responders believe she accidentally fell backward off a retaining wall.

Due to all of the circumstances, including the time it took the dealership staff to realize there was an actual emergency and the extremely dense foliage, her rescue took several hours. “Oh, it took a while. It was a couple of hours, and then you could hear the chainsaw going as they were cutting her out up there,” Ford told WPXI-TV. The rescue involved coordinated efforts from the police, EMS, and the Fire Department.

The woman, who remains unidentified, is in her 30s and suffered several broken bones. According to WPXI-TV, as of June 10, she was still in the hospital recovering.

While the woman was ultimately located and rescued, Moio reflected on the timeline of events. No one knows how long she was stuck before the dealership staff heard her. Since it was such an unusual incident, he commented on his and Ford’s delayed response to her initial cries for help. “I think it’s the bystander effect where everyone thinks everyone else is going to do something,” Moio said.

Ultimately, Ford and Moio expressed relief that they trusted their instincts and called for help. “It feels good to know that we helped someone,” Moio said.