A new video shared with the Herald captured the exact moment Saturday a tractor-trailer carrying U.S. mail sped off a highway bridge and plunged into the Charles River west of Boston.
The footage, shared by the State Police Association of Massachusetts, shows the large truck flying off Interstate 95 North in Weston and toppling over into the chilly waters below. Saturday’s skies were clear, but temperatures barely reached the low 30s at the time of the accident.
State troopers from the Framingham barracks responded to the scene around noon.
“The driver, who was remarkably unhurt, stood atop the TT unit unable to swim waiting for help. Additional MSP assets, Weston Fire Dept, and others quickly responded to the scene to assist with the rescue. The operator was secured by divers and transported to a local area hospital for evaluation,” state police shared in a statement from the association.
The state police also shared the radio call among troopers as soon as news of the crash broke, detailing what happened just before the truck flew off the bridge:
“There was a tractor-trailer that went across two lanes of traffic, it ended up in the water,” one trooper reports on the call.
In the video, troopers also described how they found the truck’s driver on the roof of his vehicle in the river:
“He can’t get out, but he is standing up and he is talking. Doesn’t seem to be injured,” one trooper said.
First responders shut down the ramp near the accident until 10:30 p.m. Saturday, cleaning up the mess and recovering packages of mail that had been inside the truck. A state police diving team began extricating the truck from the river around 2:30 p.m., and the truck broke in half when it was eventually pulled out of the water, according to the State Police Association.
The cause behind the dramatic dive is under investigation.
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