Driver killed in flood water after becoming trapped in car

 
1/2
23 November 2012

A man has died in Somerset after becoming trapped in his car in flood water, police said.

Emergency services received a call at about 8.50pm on Thursday night to say a car was wedged under a bridge near to a ford at Rectory Fields, in Chew Stoke.

Fire crews and police attended the scene and a man was found in the car and pronounced dead.

An Avon and Somerset Police spokesman said they are still trying to identify the man involved and his next of kin.

"The vehicle is still stuck there at the moment, and so we are preserving the scene until the water has died down and it is safe to retrieve the car," he added. "When daylight comes, they will look to remove it."

An Avon Fire and Rescue Service spokesman added: "Tragically we have had one fatality.

"We were called to reports of a car submerged in water in Pilgrims Way, in Chew Stoke, just off the main road.

"Emergency services attended and several members of the Avon Fire and Rescue swift water rescue team, who are based at Bedminster fire station, went into the water.

"They recovered a man from the vehicle, he was then left in the care of paramedics and I understand that while being taken to hospital he was declared dead en route.

"The coroner has been informed and there will be a full investigation."

Chew Stoke resident David Smith, 76, said it was the second time in 24 hours in which a 4x4 had got into trouble crossing the ford.

Mr Smith, who has lived in the village for 22 years, said: "About 24 hours ago, a Land Rover came past here and I flagged him down and told him he ought not to try and cross the ford, but he did and he was swept away in the middle of the ford.

"Fortunately, his vehicle was caught by one of the bollards on the road and he was able to climb out of the window on to the roof.

"We tied a rope around him, from my garden, just in case he was swept away and sort of secured him until the fire brigade arrived about 20 minutes later.

"It was a crazy, crazy thing to do."

He added: "This is the first time we've experienced this kind of flooding. My garage has been flooded twice in 48 hours and we're four foot above the road line.

"We're flooded regularly, but we've experienced nothing like the last few months because this year has been particularly wet, of course.

"The river has three entry points into the road and they sort of come together and cause quite substantial flooding, last night certainly three-and-a-half to four feet up my wall.

"The speed of the water was quite horrendous, it really was, I've seen nothing like it. It shoots under that gully and cascades into the roadway here.

"It took just 20 minutes from being fairly benign to flooding up to the top of my four-foot wall. It's very rapid, because the water comes in from three directions. It's quite dramatic really."

The victim's 4x4 had become trapped under a small wooden bridge near the ford at Rectory Fields.

John Oliver, from the Great Western Ambulance Service, said the man was removed from the vehicle by fire crews and taken to the Bristol Royal Infirmary in an ambulance, where he was formally pronounced dead on arrival.

"The patient was not breathing and unconscious and probably beyond help but, because there was no indication how long that person had been in that situation, our crews did attempt resuscitation," he said.

"That continued in the ambulance on the way to the Bristol Royal Infirmary but en route the decision was taken to stop.

"Death was declared by a doctor on arrival at the hospital."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in