In Waukee, Iowa, rescue workers discovered an overturned semi truck, and nearby, its injured driver.
According to KCRG, the incident occurred on 1-80 west of the Grand Prairie Parkway exit early Wednesday morning.
Officials stated that the trucker drove into the median, hit the westbound guardrail of I-80, slipped between two bridges and then dropped down a 30 ft. embankment.
The driver was left badly injured and stranded for hours.
The semi and its driver might have gone unnoticed if it weren’t for construction workers who were working on the northside of the bridge who spotted the wrecked semi in the river.
Police received a call around 11 a.m. from the construction workers, alerting them to the scene of the accident.
State Trooper Tracy Bohlen told media:
“They did find the driver laying out in the water, halfway up on a couple pallets.”
Troopers say that the driver either crawled out or was thrown from the vehicle. The 48-year-old California truck driver appeared to have a broken leg. The driver was talking and was able to stand.
Bohlen continued:
“He’s very lucky. When you look at the debris, and the tractor and the trailer and everything, there’s nothing left.”
The truck driver told rescuers that he crashed around 4 a.m.; he was stranded in the creek for seven hours.
