Kentucky firefighters make daring rescue to save truck dangling on overpass

It was a pulse-pounding moment in Louisville, Kentucky.

A wrecked tractor-trailer's cabin was hanging dangerously off an overpass on Interstate 65, with the driver still inside.

In an emotionally charged 911 call made on Sunday morning, he could be heard begging for assistance.

"I'm simply leaning over the bridge; I have no intention of ending my life," the driver stated.

He requested the operator to remain connected.

“If I don’t survive, can you just leave the recording to my family?” the driver asked.

On the other end of the line was Martyna Wohner, providing reassurance during the over 18-minute telephone conversation. "They will rescue you," she told him.

That's exactly what they did.

After the Louisville Fire Department secured the truck with chains, a firefighter was carefully lowered into the cab via a rope system attached to an elevated ladder platform.

Fire Chief Brian O’Neill characterized the operation as "inherently risky."

“Once [the firefighter was] in there, he has to get that climb harness on to the victim and then tie him in, so that it can then hoist them out of there,” O’Neill said.

Altogether, it lasted slightly more than 30 minutes.

O’Neill said has only witnessed this kind of operation once before in his 24-year career. Last March, the department made another big-rig rescue with the driver hanging over the Ohio River.

Remarkably, in both incidents, authorities say everyone made it out OK.

The video indicates that the motorist involved in the most recent event, whose identity hasn’t been disclosed by authorities, gave a thumbs-up signal as he was being brought down to the ground.

“We see people oftentimes on their worst day,” O’Neill said. “And so when you get to know that this person who had this … terrifying moment that has now gone to safety, gets to be reunited with his family, that’s exactly why we do the job.”

This piece was initially released on News in A Day