A young woman has died after her car plunged 200ft down an embankment and landed in a pond.
The woman was travelling south along the A92 Stonehaven to Dundee road when the incident occurred on a bend near Inverbervie.
The white Vauxhall Corsa crossed the carriageway at the Arbuthnott road junction, smashed over a barrier and careered down the steep incline covered in thick gorse bush.
The car landed on its roof in around 3ft of water.
It is thought that the woman, whohas not been named, was from north Aberdeenshire.
A major rescue operation was launched, with three fire engines called to the scene at about 4.25pm.
A mountain rescue team and dive team from Scottish Fire and Rescue were also dispatched.
Watch manager John Strachan, of Stonehaven fire station, said that ithad been unclear at first where the car had stopped, given how far it had dropped.
He said: “We had at first a bit of difficulty in finding the car because it had come down this very steep embankment of around 200ft. It took us probably about 10 minutes to locate the car.
“Police and paramedics were already at the scene.The car was on its roof in a large pond, in around a metre of water.
“The car was still visible and police and paramedics had managed to get one person out of the car and on to the bank.”
Mr Strachan said the water would be searched for any evidence relevant to the crash.
“The dive team was able to carryout a full search of the car and pond to establish no one else was there,” he added.
The road remained closed for several hours, with commuters directed away from Inverbervie towards the A90 Aberdeen to Dundee road.
Inspector Ian Kirkwood, from the Aberdeenshire roads policing team, said further searches of the gorse bushes would be made.
“Investigations are continuing and I would urge any witnesses to get in touch,” he said.