Divers recover body of truck driver whose vehicle plunged hundreds of feet into southern Indiana quarry

CAPE SANDY, Ind. (AP) — Divers recovered the body of a driver on Wednesday, the day after his dump truck plunged hundreds of feet into a water-filled pit at a southern Indiana quarry.

The man's body was pulled from the pit shortly before noon with the help of a remote-operated submersible that assisted state conservation divers and divers from Indiana State Police, officials said.

The divers entered the truck and recovered his body in between 20 and 30 feet (6 to 9 meters) of water, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources’ law enforcement division said. His name was withheld pending notification of relatives.

The DNR said emergency personnel were called Tuesday afternoon to a Mulzer Crushed Stone Inc. rock quarry after the dump truck fell into the water-filled pit.

A Mulzer employee was operating the truck weighing several tons near the edge of the pit when it slipped over the edge and plunged several hundred feet into the water, the state agency said.

The steep, unstable terrain near the pit hampered search efforts before Mulzer employees helped to build a temporary path allowing the officers to access the water by boat and obtain sonar images that confirmed the truck's location.

The quarry site is located close to the Ohio River near the unincorporated Crawford County village of Cape Sandy, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) west of Louisville, Kentucky.