A truck driver narrowly escaped very serious injury or worse on Friday when firefighters pulled her from the cab of a crashed semi as it dangled off a bridge over the Ohio River.
Breathtaking images show rescue workers suspended on cables navigating the side of the George Rogers Clark Memorial Bridge while making the dramatic save in Louisville, Ky.
Louisville Fire Chief Brian O’Neill credited his team for beings total pros after their heroic effort was complete.
“They train for this type of stuff,” O’Neill told reporters. “This is very much a worst case scenario. Kind of a crazy thing you don’t expect to actually have to do until you show up and you see it.”
He said the unidentified driver was remarkably calm while being rescued, then allowed her emotions to kick in once lifted to safety in a harness roughly 40 minutes after first responders set up their pulley system.
The driver’s precarious situation was the result of a three-vehicle crash around noon on the bridge connecting Kentucky to southern Indiana, according to The Associated Press.
The front of her truck plunged through a gate and was suspended in mid-air while the truck’s trailer remained on the bridge’s roadway. Firefighters said the extraction mission that ended with a single rescue worker on a cable pulling the truck driver from her cab was the result of teamwork.
“We’re willing to risk a lot to save a lot,” O’Neill said.
With News Wire Services
