Moment a car was seen speeding off the end of a 650ft pier in Virginia and plunging into the water below – as police still haven’t confirmed if they found any victims inside the vehicle
- Around 6:50 a.m. Saturday, a car drove off the end of the 14th Street pier
- It was not immediately clear who was inside, if there were any survivors or what caused the crash
A car drove off the end of the Virginia Beach pier and plunged into the sea, prompting a police rescue attempt.
Around 6:50 a.m. Saturday, a car crashed through the barriers of the 14th Street pier and sped past.
He braked briefly before driving through the wooden railing at the end of the pier and over the edge, as police say he now lies “at the bottom of the ocean.”
A young woman standing on the beach captured the incident on camera when she heard a loud crash and started filming.
Virginia Beach police are working to recover the car and any occupants, but said that even a day after the car fell into the water, they did not know how many people were inside or what caused the crash.
The taillights of the car were visible as it drove off the pier
He seemed to brake before the end before going over the edge
The pier is 200 meters long and the water at the end is about 4.5 meters deep. The water temperature is in the mid 40s.
It was not immediately clear whether police had sent a dive team to check the car or search for any survivors. As of Sunday afternoon, police had not yet confirmed whether there were any victims or survivors of the crash.
They tried to recover the car on Sunday, but had to cancel the extraction due to rough seas, according to WTKR3.
Witnesses said the car drove onto the boardwalk from Atlantic Avenue at a high rate of speed and crashed through the first barriers on the pier.
Virginia Beach Police Department spokesperson Jude Brenya told 13NewsNow, “The vehicle just drove onto the boardwalk, onto the end of the pier and then into the water.
“The vehicle is at the bottom of the ocean.”
He added: “We have an idea of where the vehicle location is. The challenge is to get that vehicle out of the water.
“And that’s what they have to figure out. What resources are needed to find out.’
The pier is 200 meters long and the water at the end is about 4.5 meters deep. The water temperature is in the mid 40s
The car drove through two barriers and reached the end of the pier
The police received a report around 6:50 am on Saturday, but the car had not yet been recovered on Sunday afternoon
One of the women who caught the incident on camera, Kaylynn Crawford, told Wavy: “We saw at first that it happened very quickly. We thought we would just go for it.
“But towards the end the car started to slow down, and it looked like it was almost staggering at the end. Then suddenly it fell over the pier.’
Charlotte Murphy, who works at a seafood restaurant on the pier, told the outlet: ‘They went through three gates, which is pretty crazy and these are really, really strong gates. It’s really crazy to think about.
“As soon as I got here, I was like, ‘Holy cow, that’s the craziest thing I’ve heard in a long, long time.’