US highway construction workers used the forks of an elevated telescopic materials handler to stabilise a Toyota RAV 4 sports utility vehicle left dangling on a bridge wall after a crash.

A family of five en route to the Disneyland amusement park was in the 2003 SUV, which rolled several times after a chain-reaction accident early on 25 April on the northbound Interstate highway 805 in San Diego.

"The California Department of Transportation expresses its gratitude to the group of contractor employees," the Caltrans agency says. "At least half a dozen employees from Diablo Contractors Inc, of San Ramon, California, working 20 ft. (6.1 m) below used a telehandler to help stabilise the teetering vehicle and then climbed ladders to free four of the five passengers. The fifth passenger had to be extricated by firefighters."

Laura Hall, 65, suffered head and internal injuries and died four hours later in hospital. Her son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren were treated for injuries.

Caltrans District Director Laurie Berman says: "These workers are heroes. I understand they are modest and have no comments at this time, but I want to recognise them and say how truly proud we are to have them as partners on this project. I am sure they didn't wake up this morning thinking they were going to save lives."

The construction work is part of a USD 90.3 million road extension project scheduled to open in about a year.

The materials handler was identified as an Xtreme Reach model.

Xtreme Manufacturing LLC, of Las Vegas, Nevada, makes four varieties of telehandlers: compact, high-pivot roller booms, high-capacity roller booms and ultra-high-capacity roller booms. Don Ahern, president of Las Vegas-based Ahern Rentals Inc, founded Xtreme Manufacturing in 2002.