Semi driver rescued from cab dangling over 70-foot drop on I-5

Oceanside fire crews rescued the driver of a semi-truck that crashed on Interstate 5 near Harbor Drive early Wednesday, leaving the cab dangling 70 feet above the San Luis Rey River in Oceanside.

The driver — who had to be pulled out through the cab’s back window as it hung off the bridge in the rain — was not injured, according to the Oceanside Fire Department.

The crash was reported just after 5:05 a.m. on the northbound lanes of I-5 just south of Harbor Drive. Crews arrived to find the truck’s cab dangling from the bridge over the river. The truck was on the left side of the northbound lanes, nearest the fast lane.

In the dark and rain, crews had to first stabilize the vehicle so it wouldn’t fall off the bridge. “They had to use rigging systems with ropes and cables to secure it,” Division Chief Blake Dorse said.

Firefighters then donned harnesses and removed the back window, he said. The driver was able to help in the effort to get him through the window and out of the cab, Dorse said.

The crash also sheared two diesel fuel tanks on the truck, he said. One landed on the freeway, the other fell 70 feet to the riverbed below. A hazmat team handled the cleanup.

The left two freeway lanes were blocked as Caltrans crews worked to repair the bridge. California Highway Patrol said all lanes had reopened before 2:30 p.m.