PENTICTON — Karen Searle says she feels lucky to be alive.
The 65-year old Penticton woman was driving to Vancouver when she found herself in the middle of a rock slide.
“It was just surreal, like it was in slow motion. When I saw the few other rocks rolling down, that’s when I looked up and that’s when I saw the huge boulders just rolling down. Right at that point was when the airbag deployed and the car filled with smoke and I couldn’t see anything else, so I had no idea what was really going on — other than there was more than just a few small rocks — they were huge rocks.”
Her vehicle is badly damaged but the only injuries she sustained are bruises to her arms from the airbag’s impact.
“I went to bed, got up this morning, thinking: Did that really happen?”
Husband Bob Searle is glad he isn’t a widower today.
“A split second later and I could have been a widower. It makes me shiver. I’m lucky to have her, let’s put it that way. I might get her to go out and buy me a lottery ticket later.”
Officials hoped to have the highway re-opened by 4 p.m. Tuesday but now say it will remain closed overnight because rocks are still coming down from the slide.
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