A man’s body was pulled out of the Delaware River on Saturday morning after
his tractor-trailer cab crashed through a concrete wall
and off the Delaware Memorial Bridge the previous day, authorities said.
The deceased driver was recovered around 11:10 a.m., according to a release from the Delaware River and Bay Authority.
He was not immediately identified.
His remains were found inside the cab, which had been located 20 feet under the surface of the river by emergency personnel at 10:45 a.m. on Friday.
At that point, the driver, who had not been found, was presumed dead. The search was suspended around 4:30 p.m. over tide and water conditions.
The recovery effort actively resumed at 9 a.m. on Saturday. The driver’s cab was successfully removed from the river two hours later using a crane and barge commandeered from a nearby construction site, officials said.
Emergency personnel extracted the driver’s body from the cab with a hydraulic rescue tool, according to the release. The Delaware Medical Examiner’s Office then took possession of the remains.
The crash occurred around 3:40 a.m. on Friday, when the cab crossed three lanes of traffic and “careened” into the river, the Delaware River and Bay Authority said in a previous release.
No other vehicles were impacted, officials said.
The tractor was “bobtailing,” a trucking term that refers to traveling without an attached trailer.
A bobtail tractor is more difficult to handle than a truck hauling a load, with reduced braking power and an increased risk of skidding and jackknifing.
An investigation into the matter remains ongoing. The bridge was open to traffic on Saturday.
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