Man OK After Car Rolls Into River In Braddock

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Crews braved the icy waters of the Monongahela River Thursday evening in an attempt to retrieve a vehicle that sank to the bottom.

A man was fishing near the 11th Street boat launch in Braddock Thursday afternoon and somehow his vehicle slipped out of gear, drifted down the ramp and into the river.

A dive team was called out to search for the vehicle. It's believed to be beneath a barge.

But the operation was called off due to dangerous conditions.

"Part of the problem is naturally the extreme cold," said Braddock Fire Chief Thomas Petrovic. "You have to have special dive equipment, but because of the undertow and the current, it makes it extremely dangerous for the diver. In fact, he lost a fin while he was under and that's when we aborted. Once he lost his fin, he couldn't control himself or where he was going."

No one was in the SUV when it went into the river.

As the driver watched it happening, he snapped pictures of the SUV slowly sinking.

The diver was escorted into the back of an ambulance to warm up.

It's now up to the Coast Guard to decide what to do with the vehicle.

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