A 27-year-old man is miraculously alive after his pickup went over Hawk Cliff close to Port Stanley.
Hearth fighters estimate that from the highest to backside of the embankment is round 270 toes.
“When emergency services responded, we honestly believed that we were going to be dealing with a fatal motor vehicle collision,” mentioned Sgt. Ed Sanchuk of the West Area OPP.
Central Elgin Hearth spent many of the morning working with a heavy-rescue group, pulling the truck up the cliff.
A truck fell greater than 250-feet down an embankment at Hawk Cliff close to Port Stanley, Ont. on Tuesday Oct. 23, 2024. The motive force survived. (Brent Lale/ London)
Round 6:00 p.m. Tuesday first responders have been known as after a truck went over the sting on the finish of Hawks Cliff Highway on the Lake Erie shoreline.
Ornge Air Ambulance had issue discovering a spot to land because the terrain is hard to navigate, and Central Elgin Hearth crews went down the embankment to rescue the driving force, who survived the crash regardless of going extra down the steep embankment which is full of massive rocks.
The truck got here to relaxation on the backside of the cliff.
“We responded with our technical high-angle team and determined that there was a vehicle over the cliff,” mentioned Chief Ray Ormerod of Central Elgin Hearth Rescue Companies (CEFR).
Central Elgin Hearth Rescue groups work to tug up a volunteer hearth fighter who rappelled down the cliff to hook cable onto the truck on the backside of the 250-foot embankment. (Brent Lale/ London)
“The crews went down, found an individual down at the bottom of the hill. assessed him with the help of EMS, Ornge [Air Ambulance] and OPP we were able to transport him to the water treatment plant where it was a little more level ground.”
With issue accessing the situation, CEFR known as of their sea-doo.
“It has a platform on the back of it, we were able to strap the stokes onto the back of the sea-doo on the platform, and then just made their way down to the pumping station”.
The 27-year-old from St. Thomas, Ont. was transported to a trauma centre hospital by EMS with the help of Ornge Air Ambulance.
The motive force’s accidents have been reported as severe, however non-life threatening.
The street has a guard rail and fence on the lifeless finish. The truck went by a gate to the suitable of the guard rail, round a nook, and about 40-50 metres to the sting of the cliff.
Neighbour Frank Hough has lived on Dexter Line east of Port Stanley for many years and is aware of comparable situations, “I’ve seen people drive off the cliff committing suicide, and I’ve seen people drinking and driving off the cliff and I know a guy who went over on his snowmobile.”
Neighbour Frank Hough says he’s heard of many automobiles which have gone over Hawk Cliff throughout his lifetime. His buddy went over unintentionally on a snowmobile and lived (Brent Lale/ London)
“You can survive. It just depends on how you happen to land and where you land, because a lot of places it’s very soft landing”.
He and different neighbours want to see the street closed completely, or not less than have some measures in place to cease automobiles earlier than they attain the tip of the street.
“They should actually block the road off,” insisted Hough.“If they want to use it for a birdwatching sanctuary or anything else, at least have some kind of restrictions. Make sure you can’t drive back there, especially at night.”
As rescue crews labored to take away the truck from the underside, everybody concerned was shocked that the person survived.
“I’m just happy to see that this person is alive, and in the hospital right now,” mentioned Sanchuk.
