Authorities say a set of safety chains for camp trailers and the quick and careful work of the emergency crews saved two people after their truck fell off a bridge, leaving them hanging above a deep canyon in southern Idaho.
Idaho State Police responded to the accident at around 2:45 pm on Monday, ISP spokeswoman Lynn Hightower said. A policeman found a man and a woman in the truck that was hanging, nose down, on the side of the bridge that crossed Malad Gorge.
The gorge is narrow, but it is about 30.48 meters deep below the bridge, approximately the height of a 10-story building. The gorge reaches about 250 feet (76.20 meters) deep at its deepest point.
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Authorities say a set of safety chains for camp trailers and the quick and careful work of the emergency crews saved two people after their truck fell off a bridge on March 15, 2021. (Idaho State Police via AP)
The only thing that prevented the 2004 Ford F-350 pickup from falling was the set of “safety chains” attaching the 30-foot camper trailer, which remained on the bridge, to the pickup. A state police officer and the local sheriff’s deputy first used an additional set of chains from a nearby semi-truck to help support the hanging truck, holding it in place until additional rescuers with cranes, rope rescue equipment and other equipment could arrive.
The emergency teams were then able to rappel down to the suspended truck and attach a harness to each occupant, allowing them to be safely carried back to the bridge. Both were taken to hospitals and neither appeared to have life-threatening injuries, said Hightower. Two small dogs inside the truck were also safely rescued and taken to the home of a close relative.
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Workers were still trying to pull the pickup off the cliff on Monday night.
“It was scary,” said Hightower. “It was definitely a heroic rescue for everyone who was there and, thankfully, everyone is doing well.”
Witnesses said the truck appeared to lose control before the accident, first swerving to hit the right shoulder barrier before sliding over the left handrail. The truck then toppled over the bridge, with the trailer blocking the bridge’s two lanes.
The case remains under investigation, said Hightower. Gooding, Jerome and Twin Falls agencies responded to the incident, along with the regional sheriff’s offices, fire department and paramedical services.
“A rescue like this requires a lot of action and quick thinking, but that’s what they train for,” she said. “That training just paid off today, and two people are alive because of the hours and hours of training these rescuers do.”