A white Toyota car swerved off Hwy16 between Terrace and Prince Rupert last Thursday, April 26, and landed on its roof in a pool of water.
No one was seriously injured, but a Terrace man who raced to help says he’s thankful that it’s not flooding season yet, or the situation could have ended much worse.
Tyler Cameron says he was driving towards Terrace on the straight stretch near the Exchamsiks River when the car coming towards him lost control and swerved off the highway. The car landed down the 15-foot ditch on its roof in a small pool of water.
“I ran down there, and I tried to open the driver’s door,” said Cameron, “but everything was wedged, so I was like, ‘well, I gotta get them out of there somehow.’”
Cameron grabbed a crescent wrench from his vehicle and broke the rear window, then had to cut the inflated air bags so the two vehicle occupants could crawl out.
“They shook my hand and were pretty pumped of not being trapped in the car,” said Cameron, who messaged the Terrace Standard after the incident.
“It’s just lucky that it wasn’t deeper water,” he added, “because the car was right upside down… In another week from now, when the water table is up after the flooding, they would have been under water and I wouldn’t have been able to do anything.”
Terrace emergency services were called out at 3:20 p.m. April 26 to the crash scene and found the vehicle flipped and two occupants with minor injuries.
RCMP public relations officer Crystal Evelyn says no charges were yet laid and the cause of the crash is still under investigation.
jackie@terracestandard.com
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