Trucker follows GPS onto wooden bridge, causing it to collapse into river

A truck driver is lucky to have escaped unharmed after he followed his GPS onto a small Arkansas bridge and wound up in a river.

The incident happened around 8 p.m. on Wednesday, January 30, in the Yell County town of Ola, according to a report from THV 11.

Director of the Yell County Office of Emergency Management Bill Gilkey says that the unnamed semi truck driver was hauling a load of processed chicken to Danville when his GPS device led him to the Dale Bend Bridge.

Though there were signs posted at the bridge entrance warning the driver about the 6 ton weight limit, Gilkey says that the driver attempted to cross the bridge anyway. The weight of the semi truck collapsed the 88 year old bridge structure and left the semi truck partially submerged in the Petit Jean River.

Fortunately, the truck driver was able to get out of the truck and wasn’t hurt.

The Ola Fire Department says that the bridge is closed “indefinitely.”

Crews will be working on Thursday to try to remove the truck from the river.