A vehicle crashed into the North Saskatchewan River valley Tuesday morning after veering off the road east of downtown Edmonton.
Emergency crews responded just before 11 a.m. to Jasper Avenue near 90 Street, where an Edmonton Fire Rescue Services spokesperson said the vehicle went off the road.
Crews arrived on scene to find a car about 50 metres from Jasper Avenue, halfway down the steep river bank in a heavily treed area.
The EFRS high angle technical rescue team was called in to stabilize the vehicle and get the trapped driver out of the vehicle.
“They were able to get the patient safely up the hill, as well as move our members up and down the hill because obviously as you see it’s very steep here,” fire captain Dallas D’Aoust said.
Acting dist. chief Jose Ponciano said a man was rescued from the vehicle and taken to hospital. He was alone in the vehicle, he said.
It’s not known what caused the vehicle to leave the road or what kind of injuries the driver suffered, but Ponciano said the patient was mobile.
“Because the patient was able to walk, our guys were able to walk him up with of some lines up the embankment,” he said.
Alberta Health Services said the man was transported in stable condition.
Ponciano noted there are some homeless camps in that part of the river valley where people live.
“It could have been probably worse if that vehicle had moved a little more,” he added.
It took crews about three hours to get the silver Audi car out of the steep river valley.
D’Aoust said it was a unique situation and more difficult than their usual recoveries, but one they prepare for during training.
“There are a lot of trees and the way the vehicle went in we couldn’t extricate it the same way, so we had to cut some trees down unfortunately and move some things around down below,” he said.
“It was fairly difficult but at the end of the day, we did get it out.”