NEWPORT, Ky. – Surveillance video captured a car falling off the Combs-Hehl Bridge after a “horrifying crash” Tuesday.
Watch the video in the player above
The car went off the bridge near Coney Island during a series of chain-reaction crashes at about 4:30 p.m., according to police. It happened when a semi rear-ended several vehicles that were stopped in the eastbound lanes after a fender-bender at the Kellogg Avenue exit, a witness told WCPO.
Twelve vehicles were involved in four separate collisions, officials said.
A 911 caller reported seeing three people in the car, but police have so far been unable to identify who was inside.
Campbell County Police asked that anybody who is unable to account for friends or family who may have been traveling the I-275 route Tuesday to contact them at 859-547-3100.
The video appears to show the vehicle fall from the bridge and splash into the river. There appears to be a second, small splash nearby.
Rescuers spent hours trying to locate the vehicle after the crash on I-275 that evening. They did find the vehicle, but divers weren’t’ able to recover it due to strong currents and high water levels at the time, authorities said.
The team would "first identify if there are victims in the vehicle and then they will make an assessment as to whether it’s best to try to extract any persons that are found or whether it’s best to try to float the vehicle," Campbell County Police Chief Craig Sorrell said at a news briefing.
