Mom used phone tracking app after daughter missed curfew, found her pinned under car 7 hours later

MOUNT AIRY, N.C. - A frantic mother used a phone tracking app to locate her daughter after the teen had crashed down a 25-foot embankment in North Carolina last week.

Catrina Cramer Alexander used the Find My Friends app to track her daughter, Macy Smith, 17, of Mount Airy -- which ultimately saved her life.

"Several have asked me what happened to Macy Smith. A miracle. And we are celebrating every minute and every milestone," Alexander said in a Facebook post.

Alexander became concerned about her daughter after Smith missed her curfew and did not answer any calls or texts from her brother or mother, WFMY-TV reported.

"The lack of response was out of character for her," Alexander said, according to the station.

That's when Alexander got worried and decided to use the Find My Friends app. Since last year, the mother and daughter had shared their locations with each other through the app, the station reported.

Alexander had noticed that Smith had been in the same location for "far too long," which prompted the mother to come to her daughter's rescue, the report said.

"I can't explain watching the GPS on my phone with my dot for my phone getting close to hers and then suddenly seeing the tire tracks," Alexander said.

Smith's family found her pinned underneath the car, which had fallen down a 25-foot embankment in Pilot Mountain.

"I was lying in a ditch 20 yards off the road for the 7th hour with my arm pinned under my car. I will never forget the sound of my family calling out my name when they found me around 10:30 pm," Smith explained in a Facebook post. "I hydroplaned at 4:00 pm and ran in between 2 trees down an embankment, flipped my car 3 times, and landed in my back seat with my arm pinned in between the car and the ground."

The mother then got emergency services to rush her daughter to the hospital.

"I have lost all of the nerves in this (left) arm and cannot feel it at all. I had surgery this morning to attempt to relieve pressure and swelling. I also came out of this accident with a fractured neck," Smith wrote.

But during her harrowing ordeal, Smith turned to a higher power.

"I searched for my phone to call for help but the only thing in sight was my bible. I held on to my bible and prayed harder than I had ever prayed before. I do not deserve to be here right now, but God has bigger plans for me," she wrote. "I ask that everyone continues to pray for me as I will have upcoming surgeries, therapy, and struggles to face."

Smith hopes other parents and children could learn from her survival story and download the app that saved her life.

"I wanted to share my story to encourage teenagers to get a tracking device on their phones," the teen wrote on Twitter.

"So to all parents and teenagers, PLEASE consider getting Life 360 or Find Friends as it could save your child's life like it did mine. I promise that it's worth it and if you layed hopelessly in a ditch for 7 hours you would think so too," Smith tweeted.

This story was reported from Los Angeles.