A teenage girl is the only survivor of a deadly Colorado rockslide on Monday, authorities confirmed.
According to TheDenverChannel.com, a Chaffee County deputy said her father shielded her with his body to protect her from the rockslide. The 13-year-old survivor was identified as Gracie Johnson.
"I heard a scream next to me -- I saw a hand sticking out underneath the boulder," Deputy Nick Tolsma told Good Morning America.
"She said that her dad jumped on top of her to protect her at the last moment when the rocks were coming down, and I really think that he saved her life," Tolmsa said.
Johnson was taken to the Children's Hospital in Aurora, but here condition was not released due to a request of the family.
"Chaffee County sheriff's deputies rescued her from the debris Monday after tons of rock careered down on a vantage point looking up on Agnes Vaille Falls in Nathrop, Colorado, sometime before 11 a.m. Monday. The site is about 120 miles southwest of Denver," CNN reports.
The five people were killed in the rockslide, but the bodies have yet to be officially identified because the rocks were continuing to fall.
"They started encountering more rocks coming off the cliff," Chaffee County Undersheriff John Spezze told GMA, adding the natural occurrence caught ever by surprise.
Spezze called it a "freak accident."
"The way it was described to us was there was a large cliff rock face above the falls and...it looks like that cliff face came lose and slid through the falls area," Spezze said. "From what I'm told, the rocks slid into the falls area and slid into that viewing area where the falls are."
"Since July, we've had a lot of rain and snow here, too. There's been a lot of moisture in the ground and it's probably made the ground unstable," Spezze said.
