A semi-truck veered off Interstate 86 near the Walmart Supercenter in Horseheads early Sunday morning, plunging into a nearby retention pond.
The distress call, which was made around 7:30AM, drew attention to Exit 52A where a patrolling lieutenant from the Chemung County Sheriff’s Office spotted the trailer’s rear emerging from the water with smoke emanating from it.
Sheriff Bill Schrom reported that the driver, trapped inside the truck’s cab, was successfully extricated with injuries that weren’t life-threatening.
As of late Sunday morning, emergency crews were still actively working to retrieve the submerged vehicle. On-site photos revealed tire marks from the truck indicating its trajectory from the exit, across a grassy patch, an I-86 on-ramp section, before crashing through a guardrail into the pond. Authorities have temporarily closed Exit 52A to aid the recovery operations.
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