Two people were taken by ambulance to hospital after their vehicle slid backwards down a 150-foot bank outside of Castlegar.
Shortly after 2:00 p.m. on Nov. 22, Castlegar Fire Department, B.C. Ambulance and Kootenay Emergency Response Physicians Association (KERPA) were called to a single-vehicle accident along Highway 3A between Ootischenia Road and the West Kootenay Regional Airport intersection, according to CFD chief Sam Lattanzio.
Two vehicle occupants were trapped in the vehicle. Once on scene, firefighters utilized rope rescue gear and rescued both occupants.
Snow was falling heavily across the region at the time of the accident and a snowfall warning was in effect.
Lattanzio says the motorist’s injuries were considered non-life threatening, but both people were transported to hospital.
Now a week later, the driver, Carol Wohlgemuth, says she is recovering from her bumps, bruises and sore muscles and amazed they weren’t much worse.
She is also very thankful for the men who spotted her skid marks going off the road and decided to investigate.
“If those guys hadn’t seen the skid marks, there’s no telling how long we would have been down there,” Wohlgemuth told Castlegar News.
Wohlgemuth and her passenger also want to thank all of the emergency crews who responded to the scene and helped to extricate them from the vehicle and transport them to safety.
betsy.kline@castlegarnews.com
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Castlegar Fire Department rescued two people from a vehicle that had crashed down an embankment Nov. 22. Photo: CFD
