Wrecked Car Will Be Removed from Canyon
TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) - On the edge of the Snake River Canyon there's something that doesn't belong.
In November of 2015 a car drove into the canyon, and tourists who see it tend to call in to police thinking it's a new wreck.
"If I made out what it was, and I thought it was a car I would call the police department," said James Robledo who was visiting from Nampa.
Other visitors had similar responses.
"People would need to be made aware I think," said Levi Crooke, a visiting geologist from Springfield, Missouri.
That's exactly what happened on Friday, July 7. The Twin Falls City Fire Department received a call from a tourist that someone had driven over the canyon edge.
"We get the phone calls and we'll send out our rescue teams thinking that a vehicle went over the canyon," said Twin Falls City public information officer Joshua Palmer.
After the deadly crash the body was removed quickly, but the car was another story.
"Because the vehicle is a total and also because unfortunately the driver lost their life there was really nobody for the insurance company to look to remove that vehicle," Palmer said.
Eventually the City of Twin Falls contracted a towing company to remove the car, but winter conditions and a need for specialized equipment made it unsafe.
"They have a special truck for that that needed to be operable before we could have them pull that vehicle from the canyon," Palmer said.
But since the latest tourist report the city is pushing the issue.
"Within the next few days we are finally, we have safe conditions and the contractor has the ability to remove that car," Palmer said.
The city said they're talking with officials in Twin Falls County about how to better deal with situations like this in the future.
"The conversations that we're having is how do we respond faster to this," Palmer said.