The Poway Fire Department removed a woman from a storm drain after firefighters carried out a confined space rescue response Monday afternoon.
The San Diego Police and Fire departments also responded to the scene at 14710 Beeler Canyon Road.
According to Poway firefighters, SDPD was investigating a missing persons case that had started four to five days ago. When investigators pinged the missing woman's phone, it led them to an area near Beeler Canyon Road. As they were searching in that general vicinity, officers heard moaning down a storm drain, triggering the confined space rescue response, per PFD.
The rescue operation began at roughly 1 p.m., and by about 2:35 p.m., the woman was removed from the storm drain
San Diego Fire Department Battalion Chief Erik Windsor said she was in serious condition, taken to a hospital in the area and was undergoing life-saving measures.
SDPD identified the woman as Yafang Zhou, 59, who was reported missing on April 3. As of Monday afternoon, police were not releasing more information "out of respect for Yafang and her family."
Reporting partner 10News says a department Facebook post from April 3 says Zhou was last seen around midnight on March 25 in the 1000 block of Union St.
"Units entered into the sewage system into what we call a confined space. They went through all the processes to permit it to make a safe entry, and then firefighters were literally inside the sewage or storm drain, crawling on their stomachs to try and locate the victim," Windsor said. "Firefighters were opening manhole covers all along the storm drain system, and then they were eventually able to finally locate here in an area uphill from where we had been searching, at which point they reestablished the rescue efforts, built a system of ropes and pulleys, and lowered personnel down into the storm drain."
Windsor said he was unaware if the woman was conscious or not, and he said he wouldn't expand on her medical status, citing HIPAA.
"It is very possible from what I'm hearing that she's been there for days, and it is very unusual," he said. "What she was doing in there, what drove her in there, how she came to be in there, we are unclear, and again, I will let our partners from the police department address that if they know anything. But it is very unusual to have somebody in there."
(Photo reporting partner 10News)