Man Rescued From Under SUV in Virgin Islands, St. Thomas

Nov. 29--ST. THOMAS -- Rescue workers spent more than two hours Tuesday night extricating a man who was pinned beneath a Ford Explorer he drove off a 20-foot embankment in Smith Bay.

St. Thomas Rescue spokesman Dalis Walwyn said he was among the first responders to the call, which was logged-in to the V.I. Territorial Management Agency's 911 system shortly before 9 p.m.

Walwyn said the driver was pinned beneath his vehicle but still conscious when emergency workers first arrived and found him. Responders from St. Thomas Rescue and the V.I. Fire Service began clearing the area with machetes to make way for medical technicians to treat the driver.

"There was a lot of bush, my gosh," Walwyn said.

Residents who lived nearby also assisted rescue efforts by moving their vehicles from the area and providing extension cords and power, Walwyn said.

Rescue workers deployed a system of cables and hydraulic winches to stabilize and lift the vehicle, according to Walwyn.

"We had controls in-hand for each winch to coordinate the lift with accuracy, along with someone who was down there responding to those above," he said.

Once the vehicle was lifted, medical technicians removed the driver, placed him on a backboard and transported him to Schneider Hospital.

The driver's identity and status remained unknown as of Wednesday evening, according to Walwyn. What caused the man to drive off the roadway also remains unclear, aside from the fact that there was no blockade on the edge of the parking area, he said.

"It was open," Walwyn said. "There was no type of guard rail or barrier or concrete stop. They should have had some preventative installment there to prevent this from happening."

Walwyn described the road as hard to find but "congested."

He said it appeared the driver tried to escape the vehicle once he realized he was headed off the embankment.

Walwyn said the first responders assisted the driver continuously, despite heavy rains and the other challenges the situation presented.

- Contact Lou Mattei at 714-9124 or email [email protected].