Husband describes ordeal searching for wife and finding her down an embankment

Update, Jan.2: Caroline Koenig died from complications related to the car accident on Dec. 22.

The husband of a Vernon, B.C., woman who was saved in a challenging rope rescue after spending 14 hours on a snowy embankment says she is doing well but "pretty embarrassed."

Caroline Koenig's SUV went off the road on Highway 6 near Cherryville Monday afternoon.

When she didn't come home for dinner Monday night, her husband, Trevor Koenig, knew something was wrong.

"I didn't know where she was. I just thought of any place that she might be," he said.

Koenig searched the area by car for three hours looking for any sign of a vehicle that drove off the road. 

Eventually, he says he saw tire tracks and found her vehicle, but Caroline wasn't inside.

'She's a pretty big deal to me'

"I called for her ... I hoped somebody had found her and taken her to the hospital."

The SUV had slid off the road in icy conditions and was found lying on its side in trees. When Caroline opened the door, she fell out of the car and down the hill.

"I called 911 and then I climbed down and found her."

Koenig was lifted out on a stretcher in a complex, high-angle rope rescue by Vernon Search and Rescue volunteers.

Her husband stayed with her and talked to her for nearly five hours before she was finally carried into an ambulance.

"I kept telling her that help was coming, and she was going to be OK," he said.

Koenig says she broke her arm and had to have surgery but is doing well otherwise.

"I think she's fine, just pretty embarrassed," he said.

"She thinks that we're making a big deal about her, but, obviously, she's a pretty big deal to me."

• Woman rescued after 14 hours trapped 50 metres down Okanagan embankment

With files from CBC News Vancouver.