Witness describe what she heard at time of crash
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — A tractor-trailer went off the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel Thursday afternoon and an active search for the driver is continuing into the night, according to the Coast Guard.
The Coast Guard said Thursday that it and other local agencies are searching for one person after the tractor-trailer truck went into the water from the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. It said it planned to continue searching for the person into the night, and that plans are being made to recover the tractor-trailer Friday.
“This is a concentrated joint search effort consisting of multiple rescue crews, search aircraft, and boats,” said Chief Warrant Officer Dan Butierries, Coast Guard Sector Virginia search and rescue mission coordinator. “We are committed to searching by land and sea throughout the night and into the morning.”
The crash happened around 1:50 p.m. at the 1 MP northbound, between Virginia Beach and the bridge’s southernmost island and the Thimble Shoals Channel tunnel, CBBT spokesperson Thomas Anderson says. It went off the west side (left side of the northbound span). The Coast Guard said it was notified at about 2 p.m. “that the truck with trailer attached went over the rail with at least one person inside roughly 1 mile from Chic’s Beach.”
Emergency crews have responded, and there’s no word of the status of the driver at this time. Two Coast Guard cutters are at the scene, and they have deployed two small boats, a Coast Guard spokesperson said. Joint Expeditionary Base-Little Creek has also deployed two small boats, and a helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City is also at the scene.
Virginia Beach Police said they were at the scene and a spokesperson was told that a person jumped in the water to help the driver, but said they did not have further information on either the driver or the good Samaritan. A CBBT spokesperson said it did not have information at this point about a good Samaritan in the water.
A witness to the crash, Skylar Angell, said she heard what happened on the bridge.
“We were sitting here watching the bridge, you know, it’s kind of cool to see, and we heard a loud, crashing noise,” Angell said. “It was very distinct. It sounded like some kind of collision. And I looked over not thinking anything of it, and seeing a large, white square, which seemed to be a tractor-trailer to me, turns out it was. It was pretty scary.”
The bridge-tunnel had been closed to northbound traffic as authorities investigate. It opened one northbound lane around 3:45 p.m. and as of 7:10 p.m., all lanes of the CBBT were open.
Coast Guard Station Little Creek, Coast Guard Cutter Sailfish, Coast Guard Cutter Seahawk, Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, Virginia Beach Police, Virginia Beach Fire Department, Virginia Beach EMS and the Virginia Marine Resource Commission are assisting.
There was damage to the guardrail and curb, and CBBT maintenance crews responded to make emergency repairs.
There have been multiple overboard crashes in the the bridge-tunnel’s history. The latest was in December 2020, which took the life of box truck driver Erik Mezick.
Check back for updates on this breaking news.
