DURANGO, Colo.—A man who crashed off of a mountain highway in southwestern Colorado says he never thought he would survive.
Twenty-nine-year-old Eric Petranek of Bayfield plunged 330 feet down a mountainside when he veered off of Red Mountain Pass on March 25. The Durango Herald reported that he suffered second-degree burns but that the carpenter and metal worker was able to return to work Monday.
The Colorado State Patrol said it was snowing hard at the time and the road was snowpacked and icy. Troopers suspect he missed a curve in the road and drove straight off but Petranek said he was trying to avoid a boulder.
A driver who stopped to help said Petranek’s jacket and feet were on fire when he emerged from the vehicle. Jim Amrine of Montrose said he threw snow on him.
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Information from: Durango Herald,
