photo shows Hurricane Fire and Rescue firefighter rescuing a truck driver

The truck driver was stuck for nearly five hours (Image: Hurricane Fire & Rescue)

First responders carried out a heroic rescue of a truck driver facing sudden death who was dangling from a busy highway.

The dramatic rescue unfolded at approximately 6:25 a.m. after a commercial cargo truck swerved off a snowy West Virginia highway, leaving the semi-truck cab dangling off a bridge nearly 100 feet above the ground.

Photos of the accident show the cab at a nearly 90-degree angle, as the driver was trapped in the vehicle for nearly five hours.

 

First responders from the Hurricane Fire Department were dispatched to the scene for an apparent motor vehicle collision on US Route 35 in Mason County.

Footage of the crash shows a scene akin to an action movie, with one capturing the bone-chilling depth of the deadly drop from the bridge.

EXPRESS Truck driver left dangling 100 feet in air after horror West Virginia highway crash

The strategic rescue took multiple fire engines and emergency personnel vehicles (Image: Hurricane Fire & Rescue)

The rescue operation involved a team of local and county first responders who closed down the highway. They then strategically used multiple fire engines and emergency management vehicles to prepare for the rescue mission.

According to local first responders, technicians from several responding departments implemented three rope systems using two heavy “wrecker” trucks. One truck was used as an anchor to the bridge, and the other was used to secure the dangling cargo-filled truck, preventing it from plummeting to the ground below, reports the New York Post.

First responders strategically positioned emergency vehicles to initiate a rope rescue.

Then, in the midst of the blistery winter weather, Hurricane Fire Department volunteer firefighter Westley Quinn was propelled off the bridge and into the truck cab, where he secured the driver using a harness.

A social media video captured the moment Quinn saved the driver, showing the firefighter secured to the driver as the two were then slowly hoisted up by their harnesses to safety, as snow pelted them.

 

 According to Mason County Commission President Rick Handley, the local fire departments that heroically assisted in saving the life of the truck driver included those from Hurricane, Point Pleasant, Winfield, Buffalo, St. Albans, Nitro, and Teays Valley.

This comes as winter weather caused a pile-up of dozens of cars on an Indiana interstate over the weekend, according to officials.

The 45-car pileup occurred on the westbound lanes of 1-70 near the town of Terre Haute on Saturday, as confirmed in an email from Indiana State Police Public Information Officer Matt Ames, reports PEOPLE. Ames confirmed that no injuries were reported.

The pileup occurred just before 10 a.m. local time during a bout of snowy weather. Ames said in a Saturday Facebook Live that troopers were responding to “several slide-offs” and accidents on I-70.