SALT LAKE COUNTY – A wild accident in Big Cottonwood Canyon was caught on the belt, showing the moment when two vehicles crossed right on the edge.
Everyone survived, but a woman who was trapped inside one of the vehicles had to be rescued carefully.
“Seeing the video of those passing cars would be terrifying,” said Brian Anderton, battalion chief at the Unified Fire Authority. “Only with a very narrow shoulder, the road falls about 30 meters on a steep embankment.”
Anderton was part of the team that was called to rescue the victims of the accident.
“I had a lot of worries for the people involved and I knew it would be technical and probably a long operation to get them out safely,” he said.
The accident happened on Sunday around 14.00.
A truck descending the canyon just above the “S curve” can be seen on the video of the tablet spinning and hitting a Subaru. Both vehicles went off the sidewalk, and the truck headed straight into the creek below.
Three people from Subaru managed to get out alone, as well as the driver of the pickup truck. But a passenger was another story. She was stuck in the truck, upside down in the creek.
“Rescue itself was certainly difficult and dangerous. Sliding down the steep rock-covered hill, which was snowy and frozen,” Anderton said. “It was cold for the victims and it was cold for our workers who were in the water for a while.”
Rescuers brought the jaws of life to cut the truck. Then they had to build a complicated rope system on the steep embankment and back to the road.
After about two hours, they had the woman safely in an ambulance and on the way to the hospital.
“I think all things considered, we had some people get out of there happily, with the car rolling down that hill, overturning, upside down in the creek,” Anderton said. “Between the cold weather and the water, there are so many things that could have gone wrong.”
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Tania Dean