VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP/WBOC)- Officials identified the driver of a tractor-trailer that went off the side of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel near Virginia’s Eastern Shore on Tuesday morning, as 47-year-old Erik Mezick, of Fruitland, Md.
Officials say the search was suspended Tuesday night and will resume Wednesday morning.
The U.S. Coast Guard said watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Virginia Command Center received a relayed 911 notification at approximately 8:30 a.m., regarding a tractor-trailer that crashed through the southbound side of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and went into the water.
Witnesses reported seeing a man exit the tractor-trailer and drift west.
Sector Virginia watchstanders issued an urgent marine information broadcast for mariners to keep a lookout for the man.
Searching are:
* A 45-foot Response Boat-medium boatcrew from Coast Guard Station Cape Charles
* The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Hawk
* An MH-60 Jawyhawk helicopter aircrew from Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C.
* Boatcrews from Virginia Marine Resource Commission
* Shore crews from local police and fire departments
There is no current impact to the waterways from debris or pollution at this time, the Coast Guard said.
Anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of the man are asked to call the Sector Virginia command center at 757-483-8567.
The bridge-tunnel is 17.6 miles long and runs from Virginia Beach to the Eastern Shore. It features two tunnels that run under the surface of the Chesapeake Bay.
This wasn’t the first vehicle to go over the side of the bridge. A tractor-trailer driver died of hypothermia in 2019 after his truck went into the water.