Posted on 01/23/2009 9:32:32 AM PST by Squidpup
A 34-year-old Grand Junction man was rescued Wednesday from a van teetering off a cliffside about 170 feet above a canyon floor.
Daniel J. Lyons drove his van off a road in the steep, red-rock canyons of Colorado National Monument, and the vehicle dropped, tumbled and rolled 120 feet before getting snagged on brush and a rock ledge.
"It's jaw-dropping," said Joan Anzelmo, park superintendent. "It got caught on an outcropping of rock; that's what saved his life."
About 50 rescue personnel including park rangers, Grand Junction firefighters, volunteer firefighters and Mesa County sheriff's deputies performed a technical extraction in the dark to rescue Lyons, Anzelmo said.
The incident began about 4:30 p.m. when Lyons called 911. "He told dispatchers he was down a cliff somewhere in the Colorado National Monument and his car had gone off the road," Anzelmo said.
Based on Anzelmo's description of the road and area, a park ranger and volunteer firefighter were able to find Lyons' 1987 Dodge van. They got down the mountainside and found him sitting in the back seat of the van, teetering off a cliff.
More rescue personnel arrived, lights were set up and a litter was sent down to the van. Lyons was pulled up to the road and to safety.
He was flown by helicopter to St. Mary's Hospital, where he was in good condition Thursday.
After the rescue, Lyons told authorities he had accidentally driven off the roadway, Anzelmo said. The incident, however, remains under investigation.
"He feels it was an accident going over the edge of Rim Rock Drive," Anzelmo said. "It has all the signs that he intentionally drove off."
There were no brake or skid marks on the roadway, and the tire tracks in dirt off the road ran in a straight line to the edge of the canyon, she said.
"The sense we had last night was that it was intentional," Anzelmo said.
Suicides and suicide attempts have been a problem at the park, where rangers prevent about a dozen people a year from taking their lives. Typically, over the course of a year, about two or three people are successful, according to park staff. Responders were satisfied that Lyon's rescue went smoothly and was successful.
"It's truly a miracle," Anzelmo said. "Another few inches or a foot and that car would have continued on to the base of the canyon. No one survives those types of accidents. We're glad he's alive."
That sharp drop-off is a real attention getter.
AND THEY CALL ME A BAD DRIVER....PING!!!
Angels were watching out for him that day....
They watched him drive off the road ...
The van’s seat now has a permanent brown stain on it.
Did he back off the cliff?...the car is facing backwards.
Good Golly!
Sitting in the back seat? There's no question this guy was trying to do himself in ... this was no accident this was a unsuccessful suicide attempt.
Why'd they let him get that close?
This is OnStar...we have detected air bag deployment. Do you need assistance?
It looks like the truck jumped the culvert?
Has to be the luckiest person alive.
Me too. My friends and I drove over that road just a few months ago.
Uh, Roger that, OnStar, please stand by - will inform you of my status once I'm done rolling down this mountainside...
testing him?
But obviously they kept him from falling all the way down. Well the rock did, but you get my point....
They’re not first-string angels.
Toonces usually cleared the cliff ;)
"...and the vehicle dropped, tumbled and rolled 120 feet before getting snagged on brush and a rock ledge."
Based on the pic and the text in the story, my interpretation is that he came from the left (running off the road from the lane closest to the cliff) rolled off the cliff edge directly above the van and landed wheels down on that little ledge.
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