2 Dead After Truck Crashes Into Charles River
BOSTON (CBS) -- Massachusetts State Police and other investigators have a grim task, trying to figure out how a pickup truck ended up in the Charles River on Saturday night.
State Police say a 2010 Toyota Tacoma pickup truck was traveling on Nashua Street in Boston, drove through a red light at Leverett Circle and side-swiped a 2008 Acura MDX which was traveling north in the circle around 6:40 p.m.
Investigators said the truck drove off Charles River Dam Road and went into the water on the east side of the north travel lanes of the roadway, across from the State Police barracks just north of the Leverett Circle.
The truck broke through a guardrail and plunged about 40 feet into the river. The truck's occupants, a 36-year-old North Smithfield, Rhode Island man and a 36-year-old woman from Providence, Rhode Island, were rushed to Massachusetts General Hospital where they were pronounced dead.
Witnesses couldn't believe what they were seeing when the truck went in.
"All I heard was a horn going off," said witness Chris Monzert. "I heard the impact, looked over (and) I saw that piece of (the) bridge over there just crumpled. (It was) one piece solid into water, and then the tail lights as the truck went over."
Divers were also on the scene, as both victims were removed from the completely submerged truck. Rescuers feverishly gave the victims CPR, but it was to no avail.
The driver of the Acura, a 35-year-old woman from Milton, and her passenger, a 36-year-old New York woman, were not hurt.
As of late Saturday, the victims' identities had not been released.
Massachusetts State Police, Boston Fire and EMS, and Cambridge Fire personnel responded to the scene.
Dive teams from Boston and Cambridge fire departments and State Police searched the area around the truck, which was later towed from the scene.
Roads in the immediate area were shut down and reopened a couple hours later.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation by State Police.
