SALT LEAE COUNTY – A wild collision in Big Cottonwood Canyon was caught on tire, showing the moment when two vehicles ran right over the edge.
All survived, but a woman trapped in one of the vehicles had to be carefully rescued.
“Watching the video of the cars passing would be terrifying,” said Brian Anderton, a battalion commander at the Unified Fire Authority. “Only with a very narrow shoulder does the road fall about 75 feet into a steep embankment.”
Anderton was part of the team called in to rescue the victims of the crash.
“We were very concerned about the people involved and knew it would be technical and probably a long operation to get them out safely,” he said.
The accident happened around 2pm on Sunday.
A pickup truck descending into the gorge right above the “S-curve” can be seen on a dash cam video turning and hitting a Subaru. Both vehicles went off the curb, and the pickup climbed straight into the creek below.
Three people in the Subaru were able to get out safely themselves, as well as the driver of the bakkie. But a female passenger was a different story. She was trapped in the truck, upside down in the creek.
“The rescue itself was definitely difficult and dangerous. To snow off the steep, rocky hill and slide icy,” Anderton said. “It was cold for the victims and it was cold for our workers who had been in the water for a while.”
Rescuers brought in the jaws of life to chop the truck open. After that, they had to build a complicated rope system up the steep embankment and back to the driveway.
After about two hours, they had the woman safely in an ambulance and on their way to the hospital.
“I think all things considered, there were a few people who happily had to get out there while rolling that car, overturned, were upside down in the creek,” Anderton said. “Between the cold weather and the water, there are so many things that could go wrong.”
Photos
Related stories
Tania Dean