3 Killed, 5 Injured After SUV Plunges In River
Rescuers trying to get the 8 people the SUV carried out of the water (denverpost.com)
It seems that the huge snow storm that has taken over the United States a couple of days ago doesn’t want to stop.
Due to the harsh weather conditions provoked by the massive snow storm that hit the U.S. on Monday, an SUV plunged into a river in Oklahoma, yesterday. The car was transporting eight people to their job at a mushroom farm, which was closed on Tuesday and Wednesday due to the fact that roads were impossible to navigate, given the huge amount of snow that couldn’t be cleaned out. The SUV was driving on Interstate 44 and it plunged off the Spring River Bridge into the icy river below. From the 8 people, three died and five suffered great trauma and hypothermia. According to the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management, this accident raises this winter’s death toll up to 4. “Three people died this morning after the vehicle they were occupants in went off the Spring River Bridge on the Will Rogers Turnpike,” said department spokeswoman Michelann Ooten. He went on saying that the other five people who were in the vehicle were injured in the crash. According to Oklahoma Patrol Lt. George Brown, the crash was particularly dangerous due to the fact that the temperature was very low. “The ground temperature was 11 degrees below zero, so it would take only a second to become hypothermic in this water and ice.”
Two of the victims died at the place of the accident. Driver, Leonor Alcano, 31, and front-seat passenger, Irma Garcia, 37, were stuck in the SUV and died shortly after the car plunged into the river, becoming hypothermic in the blistering cold water. The other six passengers of the red SUV managed to get out of the car and climb on top of it, but one of them, Douglas Monzon, 22 of age, fell back into the water to get a rope from the rescuers, but that did him no good, as he died of hypothermia later on, after he was transported to the hospital. It is sad to see tragedies like this happen, especially to such young people, but the terrible blizzard that hit the United States has no mercy. The victims were all from Carthage, Missouri and they worked at a mushroom factory close to Miami, Oklahoma. When the SUV plunged into the river, they had already completed their 40-mile commute. The accident occurred at about 6:24 in the morning.
As stated before, the snow storm had made the road impossible to navigate, as it dumped more than 20 inches of snow, sleet and ice in Oklahoma on Tuesday. Thus, according to the police report, the driver lost control of the vehicle on the icy road, then hit a concrete wall, after which the car fell 61 feet under the water that was 4 feet deep. According to Ottawa’s Sheriff, Terry Durborow, something like this has never happened before, saying that “It’s probably the worst conditions I’ve seen, and I’ve lived here all my life.” To be honest, this is one of the worst snow storms that the United States had to deal with in a very long time and although officials and people got ready to front it, things like these cannot be prevented from happening.
The victims of the crash worked at Engelbrecht Farms, and the man who runs the factory, Scott Engelbrecht, said that they heard the news sometime after 9:45 a.m. He went on saying that such an event is devastating and he doesn’t really know how to deal with such things. The Interstate the SUV was crossing had been closed from Tuesday all through Wednesday due to the blizzard that covered areas from Southwest to New England. Moreover, even though the roads were opened, officials made a plea to the people to drive carefully, because temperatures were so low that roads could be covered again with ice. Jack Damrill, a spokesman for the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority in Oklahoma City, said that people have to be extremely cautious and pay attention to the road in such conditions, especially given the fact that snow had formed a 45-degree angle on both sides of the bridge from which the SUV fell. “Yes, there’s snow on the sides,” he said. He went on saying that they have to clean the lanes of travel and the snow on the road can go nowhere but on the sides. Moreover, Damrill also said that these weather conditions are very unusual for this area of the United States and that even though they had thoroughly prepared for the blizzard, the materials they had couldn’t front the terrible snow storm that hit them.
There were also some people who witnessed the fall of the vehicle into the river and they said that they saw the six people outside the truck in the icy water and two others inside the vehicle. Moreover, it seems that a rescue boat hoisted down the water and got the people out in a short amount of time after the accident. The five survivors were taken to St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Joplin and according to the Highway Patrol, they were all in critical condition with hypothermia.
These are not the first victims of the snow storm, as one 61-year-old woman died a couple of days ago also in a car accident after her vehicle drifted on the icy roads. Hopefully, there will be no more such tragedies. If you plan to hit the road, make sure you have everything you need for the road and also that your car is well equipped. Plus, pay very much attention to the condition of the roads and try not to speed up.
