Divers stopped their search and rescue work on Friday afternoon after an accident that sent a tractor-trailer cab off the Delaware Memorial Bridge and into the Delaware River.
The Delaware River & Bay Authority, which runs the bridge, says that anyone in the cab at the time of the crash is likely dead.
A crash around 3:45 a.m. blocked a southbound lane, but it was later opened up again.
The DRBA said that the cab was found in water about 20 feet deep. At 4:30 p.m., it said that divers had stopped for the day because of the tide and the state of the water at the accident site.
The search and rescue mission will start up again on July 12 at 6 a.m.
It said that the number of people in the tractor and any names were not known right away.
A report from the authority says the tractor, which wasn’t pulling a trailer, crossed three southbound lanes on the hill of the Delaware-bound bridge. Following that, it ran into a wall on a concrete pad close to the Delaware mooring.
“The tractor’s impact collapsed the concrete wall, and the tractor careened into the Delaware River,” it said. “No other vehicles were impacted.”
A work truck was parked next to the fallen wall as a safety measure, the DRBA said.
The crash is being looked into.
