Trucker trapped upside down underwater flown to hospital after rescue by fellow driver

A truck driver was flown to a hospital after getting trapped upside down underwater following a crash off an embankment in West Virginia on Wednesday. 

The accident was first discovered by a fellow truck driver at around 9 a.m. on Wednesday, March 11th in Mason County, West Virginia off of State Route 62. 

According to WSAZ3, the truck driver was heading north along Graham Station Road on State Route 62 when he misjudged a curve, went through a guardrail, down an embankment, and rolled. The truck was left upside down in the water below the roadway with the driver stuck inside, upside down, with his head partially in the water and his hands and legs pinned against the dashboard. 

At around 9 a.m., a passing truck driver noticed the skid marks and damaged guardrail and stopped his truck to check out the situation. When the driver saw a truck in the water below, he called down to see if he’d get a response. Thankfully, the trapped truck driver was able to yell back and get the attention of fellow trucker Scott Cadle. 

“He was upside down. His head was in the water. He had to kind of move his head to hold it up to breathe,” Cadle said. “I thought, oh man, I got to get him out of here.” Cadle then called 911 and did his best to free the driver while they waited for help to arrive. 

“We busted the window out and we didn’t have anything to work with but a bar, so we couldn’t get the door open,” Cadle said.

First responders say it isn’t clear how long the driver was trapped, but that they believe it was “quite a while.” The driver was reportedly conscious and speaking with rescuers as he was freed from the wrecked truck, but was soon flown to a nearby hospital for medical evaluation. 

Graham Station Road was shut down for hours as crews worked to clear the wreckage and retrieve the truck from the water. The driver’s current condition is not known