Winds up to 40mph are believed to have blown a truck off Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel Thursday
Truck driver Joseph Chen, 47, survived the initial plunge and was spotted on top of truck cab
Navy helicopter rushed to his rescue, but he died en route to the hospital
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A truck driver has died after high winds blew his truck off the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.
The man, identified as Joseph Chen, 47, of Greenville, N.C., was driving southbound on the 23-mile bridge and tunnel complex linking the Delmarva Peninsula with Virginia Beach when the horror wreck occurred at around 12.30pm.
Gusts of wind up to 40mph are believed to have knocked the white tractor-trailer out of its lane and through the steel railing on the bridge, a bridge official told 13News[2].
The truck plunged over the edge of the bridge into the wind-whipped whitecaps of the 45-degree water below.
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The white tractor-trailer is believed to have been blown out of its lane and through the steel railing on the bridge
A truck driver died after heavy winds swept his tractor trailer off the 23-mile bridge-tunnel between Virginia Beach and the Delmarva Peninsula
The Navy helicopter crew descended to rescue the driver at around 2pm, successfully managing to get him into the craft
Traffic halted as onlookers rushed to spot the driver and call for help.
Authorities say that the driver was spotted alive on top of the cab’s truck minutes later, where he waited desperately for help.
Navy fliers with the Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 2, based out of nearby Naval Station Norfolk, happened to be on hand in a MH-60 S Sikorsky Knight Hawk.
‘They were on a routine training flight and saw the wreck,’ Naval Air Force Atlantic spokesman Mike Maus told the Virginian-Pilot[3].
As the truck sank cab-first beneath the wind-tossed sea, the Navy helicopter crew descended to rescue the driver at around 2pm, successfully managing to get him into the craft.
Vehicles sit on the road by a missing section of guard rail along a segment of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel where a tractor-trailer went over the southbound side at the 15-mile marker
The truck was still submerged late Thursday, having reportedly floated up to a mile away from the bridge
A Navy helicopter plucked a driver from the roof of the floating vehicle, but he later died, authorities said
The hero crew raced toward Sentra General Hospital in Norfolk, but the driver died in the air before they could reach waiting doctors.
Officials have not yet confirmed the cause of the accident.
Traffic on the bridge was closed in both directions for about two hours, until reopening at 2.30pm.
The truck was still submerged late Thursday, having reportedly floated up to a mile away from the bridge.
Chen was due to celebrate his 10-year anniversary with his wife in April, according to The Virginian-Pilo[4]t.
Ten vehicles – seven trucks and three cars – went over the side of the bridge complex between 1964 and 2011, according to the Virginan-Pilot.
Only one person survived.
Since then, one truck driver drowned after crashing into the water, and another went through the railing but survived the plunge.
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References
^ e-mail (www.dailymail.co.uk)
^ 13News (www.13newsnow.com)
^ Virginian-Pilot (pilotonline.com)
^ The Virginian-Pilo (pilotonline.com)