VEYO — A battery of emergency vehicles responded to a rollover involving a vehicle that landed upside down more than 80-feet off a cliff near the Veyo Arch Bridge only to find it was actually a vehicle that went off the cliff nearly one year earlier.
There were more than 10 emergency vehicles that lined both sides of state Route 18 shortly before 1 p.m. after a witness reached the emergency dispatch center in Cedar City to report a rollover off the cliff to the east of the bridge, information that was relayed to responders in Washington County.
Several firefighters and Gold Cross paramedics made the hike down the steep ravine in search of occupants who may have been injured, and it was only after nearing the bottom that they found the silver Saturn sedan that plunged straight off the cliff May 10, 2018, killing the driver.
Read more: Man dies after driving car into deep ravine in Veyo
The dropping water levels revealed the wreckage that lay hidden 80 feet below the cliff for nearly 11 months. The vehicle was found approximately 300 yards west of where it originally came to rest, likely carried further downstream by the current.
As paramedics and firefighters were making the trek to the bottom of the canyon, a resident living above was “trying to tell them it wasn’t a crash reported today,” Utah Highway Patrol trooper Chris Lewis said, but they were unable to hear his calls due to a canopy of trees and brush that obscured the sound.
After a crash, the vehicles are typically removed from the scene – but not with this one.
In this case, Lewis said, the steepness of the ravine coupled with large rocks, trees and cliff sides made it impossible for the car to be pulled to the top using a standard wrecker and winch.
A heavy crane was brought in some time later to pull the car to the top, but those efforts also failed for the same reason, Chief Kevin Dye of Dammeron Valley Fire said Friday.
One possible remedy is to cut the car into pieces small enough to be carried to the top, he said, but until a solution can be found the car remains at the bottom partially submerged.
This report is based on statements from police or other responders and may not contain the full scope of findings. Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.
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