Truck Missing for 2 Weeks, Found Crashed, Man Dead Inside
By: Adam Paluka
Updated: June 9, 2010
“They looked down and saw the wheels of a truck up in the air, called and reported that there was a tractor and trailer down over the bank," Mifflin County Coroner Daniel Lynch said.
The trucking company that owns the tractor trailer said it was headed from Cleveland to Philadelphia. They last made contact with the driver May 25th, 16th days ago
How did thousands of drivers miss this crash scene?
“Apparently everybody drives along this road at a high rate of speed and nobody was looking over that bank, and it was quite far down over the bank,” Lynch said.
Cops think the driver may have had a medical emergency or fallen asleep. They tell me the truck crossed the Route 322 median, the West-bound traffic lanes before flying 46 feet off the ground, and landing in a gulley. Lynch believes the crash happened late at night, when traffic on the roadway was sparse.
“I would say it’s probably been one of the most difficult scenes that I’ve seen fire and EMS have to negotiate, to get this truck out of this embankment,” Lynch said.
Crews also had to deal with Wednesday’s wet, rainy weather.
“It was very difficult the truck was located down an extreme steep embankment with the conditions of the rain and the mud and the grass it was a very difficult extrication as far as trying to get equipment down there, and trying to get it up again," Matthew Yohn, Reedsville Fire Department, said.
After four hours, crews finished pulling the wreckage.
Cops closed Westbound Route 322 for more than four hours to allow tow trucks the space they needed to clear the wreckage; the highway is now reopened. Local police said they expect to release the name of the driver sometime tomorrow, after family has been notified.
Continue to follow the latest developments right here on WeAreCentralPA.com.
View Larger Map
