Car sails off 50-foot slope, traps 2 upside down on railroad tracks, Virginia cops say

A terrifying late-night car crash became even more nightmarish for two people when they found themselves dangling upside down over railroad tracks, according to rescuers in Virginia.

It happened around midnight Saturday, Dec. 9, on a sparsely traveled dead-end road, the Lynchburg Fire Department reported in a Facebook post.

“A car with four people inside had crashed through the guardrail and gone airborne, landing upside down on the railroad tracks at the bottom of a 50-foot embankment,” the fire department reported.

Investigators did not reveal how the crash was discovered, but two of the four people escaped the car on their own, officials said.

The other two were freed after firefighters and a technical rescue team “spent close to two hours” pulling the wreckage apart.

All four of the car’s occupants had to be lifted up the steep embankment to waiting ambulances, officials said.

Identities of the four crash victims and their conditions were not released.

“Thanks go out to our colleagues in the neighboring counties for providing medic units to cover other calls while our units were tied up,” fire officials said.

Maps show the car crossed a forested area at the end of Murray Place before reaching the tracks below. The two-lane road is home to multiple industrial businesses.

Lynchburg is about 110 miles west of Richmond.

This story was originally published December 11, 2023 at 3:39 PM with the headline "Car sails off 50-foot slope, traps 2 upside down on railroad tracks, Virginia cops say."