WOMAN RESCUED; FIANCE DROWNS IN CRASH.

Byline: Grace Lee Staff Writer

Passers-by rescued a Los Angeles woman from a Ford Explorer that plunged off the Pacific Coast Highway into the ocean Sunday night, but they were unable to save her fiance, who was swept to his death, authorities said.

Passing drivers pulled Zhanna Uvarova, 27, to safety just before waves carried the Explorer away, with her 33-year-old fiance inside, said Steve Reid, public information officer for the California Highway Patrol.

``The car was submerged in the water in the rough surf,'' Reid said. ``Two passers-by stopped and went down and rescued her.''

Authorities did not release the name of Uvarova's fiance, a Russian immigrant from Sun Valley.

Ventura County firefighters caught sight of him when they arrived on the scene, but waves swept him away, Reid said.

Uvarova was released Monday from John's Regional Medical Center in Oxnard, where she was treated for major injuries.

The pair was southbound on the PCH, just south of Point Mugu, about 8:30 p.m. Sunday in their 1998 Explorer when ``for no reason, they hit an electric pole and went over the side into the ocean,'' Reid said.

Two drivers came upon the broken pole and went to the pair's aid.

With the help of a third driver, Uvarova was assisted to the right shoulder of the highway.

Paramedics in an ambulance traveling northbound also stopped to help her.

The cause of the accident was under investigation. Reid said that that the two drivers who first stopped left before authorities arrived. He said he hoped they would contact the CHP to be interviewed as witnesses.