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A young woman survived a 40-foot plunge into the Chesapeake Bay last month after a Maryland truck accident forced her car over the protective railing and into the water. Morgan Lake, age 22 and a resident of Dunkirk, was on her way to Philadelphia in her 2007 Chrysler Sebring the evening of Friday, July 19 when the accident occurred.
Lake had just entered the eastbound lanes of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge around 8:30 p.m. when she spotted a red and silver 18-wheeler bearing down on her, despite a traffic standstill directly in front of her.
The truck crashed into the back of Lake’s car, forcing the front wheels of the car onto the railing. The car slid along the railing for several feet before plunging into the Bay. Lake began to panic as the car went under water but quickly forced herself to calm down and unlock her seat belt. Using all the strength she could muster, she pushed her body through a broken window of the car and swam back up to the surface.
Lake waited for 45 minutes on some nearby rocks until the US Coast Guard could get to her position. Another boater who saw the accident waited nearby with her. Lake was taken by helicopter to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore and was released a few days later. She still has several cuts and bruises but suffered no broken bones.
Maryland Transportation Authority police are still investigating the cause of the Maryland truck accident and have not yet pressed any charges. The driver of the tractor-trailer apparently hit an SUV in addition to Lake’s car. Neither he nor the occupants of the SUV were injured.
We wish Lake a quick and full recovery from the injuries she sustained in this Maryland truck accident.