Survival Tale in Fall Off Chesapeake Bay Bridge
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Comstock/Thinkstock(BALTIMORE) — A woman who survived a 40-foot fall from the Chesapeake Bay Bridge after her car was smashed into by a tractor trailer says she saw her car “explode” when the accident occurred.
Morgan Jade Lake, 22, recounted the horrifying moment when an 18-wheeler slammed into the back of her car on the Bay Bridge, which connects Maryland’s Eastern Shore with the rest of the state, at about 8:25 p.m. on Friday night.
“I saw my car explode with glass everywhere and airbags coming at me full force,” she told ABC News. “I was just dragging up against the…wall of the bridge, and I felt like I was going to be ok if I could stop on the bridge.”
But she couldn’t, and her red 2007 Chrysler Sebring plummeted 40 feet and hit the water like concrete.
“My eyes were closed, and my mouth filled up with water,” she said. “I got one good scream in, and I started to drown. I felt like my whole body was getting filled up with water and I stopped shaking and said, ‘I don’t want to drown.’”
Lake’s quick thinking and swift action after the accident was nothing short of a miracle.
“I visualized my car … took my right hand, and pushed the seat belt, turned to the left side. [The] window was already broken, [and I] went through it, and pushed off to get momentum to get to the surface.”
Gasping for air and bleeding, Lake was able to swim to safety on some nearby rocks. A boater who saw the incident came to help her.
“I heard somebody yell, ‘stay there, help is coming, and [an] ambulance is coming. Stay there.’ And I just yelled ‘help me, help me!’”
Lake was rescued soon after and flown by helicopter to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore. On Saturday, she was released with a sprained ankle and bumps and bruises.
Lake says she’s lucky to be alive.
“Anybody can be their own superwoman and superman, and with God you can do it,” she said. “I’m just blessed to be here. Blessed to get a second chance at life.”
Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio