(Photo Credit: Duchesne County)
DUCHESNE COUNTY, Utah — A solitary driver who crashed his truck down a 60-foot ravine off of SR-208 was rescued by a skeet-shooter after spending dozens of hours alone and injured in the damaged truck.
According to the Department of Public Safety (Department), Michael Charles Lee, age 55 of Duchesne County, was reported missing on Christmas Day after having last been seen on Wednesday evening, December 23, in Hanna, Utah.
Lee crashed his 1999 Toyota Tacoma at mile marker 8 on SR-208. The Department said the truck went off the roadway and stopped about 50 feet west of the highway down a 60-foot ravine embankment.
The driver was severely injured and wasn’t able to leave the truck to call for help.
On Christmas Day, a resident was in the area of the crash reportedly shooting skeet. Lee, the accident victim, heard the shots and using his own rifle along with crying out for help, was able to direct the skeet shooter to the accident scene.
The Department of Public Safety said that fire officials, EMS, and law enforcement had to use safety ropes to scale down the ravine to get to the area of the crash and to rescue Lee.
Lee was life-flighted to the University of Utah, and the incident remains under investigation.