A woman who is believed to have spent several days at the bottom of a steep ravine in Surrey was rescued and rushed to hospital Tuesday afternoon.

First responders were called to the area of Scott Road and 96A Avenue shortly before 2 p.m., when a passerby noticed the woman trapped at the bottom of an embankment.

The woman was stuck about 7.6 metres (25 feet) down, the assistant fire chief estimated, and a technical rescue crew was called in to aid in the high-angle rescue.

Battalion Chief Gary McHarg said the woman was "distraught" and had some injuries when firefighters arrived.

She was pulled to safety and taken to hospital by ambulance to be assessed. McHarg said the woman was conscious at the time of her rescue, and on Wednesday officials said she's expected to be OK.

McHarg said they weren't sure exactly how long she'd been in the ravine: "Possibly up to five days."

He said he did not know how she came to be stuck in the ravine.

Clint Whitla was hiking nearby when he heard the woman's voice.

"I guess I was making a lot of noise and she heard me and called for help," he said.

He made his way to where she was, noticed her injuries and called 911. He then waited with her until help arrived.

Whitla said she was "bruised and pretty beat up" when he found her, and that she was "barely conscious" and unable to get up. The woman told him she was resting on a tree when she slipped and rolled downhill. She seemed unclear about how long she'd been stuck, first saying Tuesday, then later Thursday.

"A day or two more and the exposure would have gotten to her," he said.

He said the woman was near a creek at the bottom of the ravine, and may have used it as a source of water. But there was no food in the area, and she had nothing on her "other than the shirt on her back."

She did not have a cellphone and wasn't wearing shoes, Whitla said.

"It was quite a dire situation."

Heidi Reichert, who lives near the site of the rescue, said she was "quite shocked" as she watched the incident unfold from her backyard.

"Luckily in the ravine there's moisture, it's cooler. I guess if it hadn't have been, I don't think she would have survived," she said.

Neighbours said there are safe ways down to the creek, including a staircase, but officials still aren't sure how she ended up in the area.

With a report from CTV Vancouver's David Molko