SALT LAKE COUNTY – A violent accident in the Big Cottonwood Canyon was recorded on tape, showing the moment when two vehicles passed straight over the edge.
Everyone survived, but a woman who was trapped inside one of the vehicles had to be rescued carefully.
“Watching the video of these falling cars would be scary,” said Brian Anderton, battalion chief of the Unified Fire Authority. “With only a very narrow shoulder, the road goes down about 75 feet through a steep embankment.”
Anderton was part of the team called to rescue the victims of the accident.
“We had a lot of concerns about the people involved and we 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 the canyon just above the “S-curve” can be seen in the video of the panel camera turning and hitting a Subaru. The two vehicles got off the edge and the truck headed straight for the stream below.
Three people in Subaru managed to leave safely on their own, as did the truck driver. But a passenger was another story. She was stuck in the truck, upside down in the stream.
“The rescue itself was certainly difficult and dangerous. Down the steep rocky hill that was covered with snow and ice,” said Anderton. “It was cold for the victims and it was cold for our workers who were in the water for a long time.”
Rescuers brought the jaws of life to open the truck. They then had to build a complicated rope system up the steep bank and back onto the road.
After about two hours, they put the woman safely in an ambulance and on her way to the hospital.
“I think that, all things considered, we had some people who got out of there with a lot of luck, having that car rolling down the hill, overturning, standing upside down in the stream,” said Anderton. “Between the cold and the water, there are so many things that may have gone wrong.”
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Tania Dean