A truck driver in West Virginia was saved from certain death in a dramatic five-hour rescue operation on Tuesday morning after his semi truck skidded off the edge of a snow-covered interstate bridge and was left dangling nearly 100 feet off the ground. A coalition of seven fire departments arrived at the scene on U.S. Route 35 in Mason County to find the vehicle’s cab dangling off the side of the bridge with the driver stuck inside, with only the weight of the cargo preventing it from dropping off the edge. After assessing the situation, firefighters secured the vehicle by anchoring it to two heavy “wrecker” trucks to prevent it from falling, while Hurricane Fire & Rescue volunteer firefighter Westley Quinn rappelled off the bridge and into the cab to rescue the driver. “I just tried to slip the harness on him, get him secured as best as I could, and keep him from stepping on the windshield,” Quinn said, “and, you know, he listened. There were a few times he got antsy, which anybody would, and you know, I just kept reassuring him I was there with him.” After the driver was secured, the two men were hoisted to safety, and both emerged unharmed from the ordeal. Point Pleasant Fire Chief Jeremy Bryant called the incident “one of the most complex rescues I’ve been involved in.”
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