MONONGALIA COUNTY, W.Va. — Police, firefighters, and divers from multiple jurisdictions recovered a vehicle with an unidentified occupant from Cheat Lake over the side of the eastbound bridge over I-68 Sunday.
Dive teams received their final briefing around 9 a.m., according to Monongalia County Sheriff Todd Forbes. By 10:25 a.m. the first team started a careful trek of more than 1,000 feet across unknown ice conditions to get to the suspected scene of the vehicle.
After about an hour, it appeared crews located the vehicle and moved a wrecker into place and began final preparations to pull the car from the icy waters.
Shortly after noon, the car was pulled from the ice and hoisted to the top of the bridge.
“All we’re going to be able to confirm is that there was in fact a vehicle; it looks like we’ve almost removed it, and we can also verify there was a victim in the vehicle,” Forbes said. “We can confirm there was a victim in the vehicle.”
The investigation began Wednesday when the sheriff’s department closed the section of interstate for an unknown investigation. Friday, it was confirmed the recovery operation would take place Sunday after an extensive safety assessment.
In addition to more than 30 divers on the scene, there were also police from multiple agencies and Monongalia EMS.
“We do want to thank the hundreds of volunteers that have come out. It takes an unparalleled amount of bravery to stand on that ice right now,” Forbes said. “We want to thank them, and we’ll do that later, but we’ll release more when we get more.”
The bridge was the scene of a multiple vehicle accident, including a semi-truck jackknife, during the Jan. 19 snow event.