wildstangs
06-22-2009, 10:42 PM
ODESSA — Five people died after a pickup got stuck in a shallow pond and sat with the engine running for several minutes while the truck was submerged just above the tailpipe, West Texas authorities said Monday.
Ector County sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Gary Duesler said witnesses called 911 Sunday evening and had to smash a truck window before pulling unconscious victims from the truck.
“It wasn’t a drowning,” Duesler said. “The whole thing was probably less than 48 inches of water clear across the whole pond. If they’d have gotten out, they could have probably walked out. But who knows why they didn’t.”
Duesler said exhaust would most likely enter the cab of the pickup through air vents once the tailpipe was under water, but he said authorities didn’t want to speculate on the causes of death. At a news conference in Odessa, Ector County Sheriff Mark Donaldson said the bodies were sent to the Tarrant County medical examiner for autopsies.
Duesler said the incident happened when the victims were apparently “mudding,” where people try to drive vehicles through shallow pools created by heavy rainfall.
The accident occurred at a small horseracing track a few miles south of Odessa, and Duesler said authorities believe the truck sat in the water “anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes” before anyone realized the occupants might need help.
He said emergency personnel intercepted one vehicle trying to take a female victim to the hospital. That woman was pronounced dead at the scene, and the other four were pronounced dead within an hour of being taken to an Odessa hospital, Duesler said.
Ector County sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Gary Duesler said witnesses called 911 Sunday evening and had to smash a truck window before pulling unconscious victims from the truck.
“It wasn’t a drowning,” Duesler said. “The whole thing was probably less than 48 inches of water clear across the whole pond. If they’d have gotten out, they could have probably walked out. But who knows why they didn’t.”
Duesler said exhaust would most likely enter the cab of the pickup through air vents once the tailpipe was under water, but he said authorities didn’t want to speculate on the causes of death. At a news conference in Odessa, Ector County Sheriff Mark Donaldson said the bodies were sent to the Tarrant County medical examiner for autopsies.
Duesler said the incident happened when the victims were apparently “mudding,” where people try to drive vehicles through shallow pools created by heavy rainfall.
The accident occurred at a small horseracing track a few miles south of Odessa, and Duesler said authorities believe the truck sat in the water “anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes” before anyone realized the occupants might need help.
He said emergency personnel intercepted one vehicle trying to take a female victim to the hospital. That woman was pronounced dead at the scene, and the other four were pronounced dead within an hour of being taken to an Odessa hospital, Duesler said.