A tractor-trailer operating on the Delaware Memorial Bridge early Friday morning crashed into a concrete wall and plunged into the river, officials said.
The incident happened just after 3:30 a.m. in New Castle County, the Delaware River and Bay Authority said in a news release.
A bobtail tractor —the front part of a semi-truck with no trailer attached — was traveling southbound on the bridge when it “crossed three lanes of traffic, onto the concrete pad near the Delaware anchorage, and crashed into a concrete wall,” officials said.
The impact, which occurred on the downslope of the southbound bridge, shattered the wall and caused the tractor to plunge into the Delaware River.
No other vehicles were impacted, the agency said.
Officials do not yet know how many people were in the tractor at the time.
Divers from New Castle County Emergency Management, the State of Delaware Special Operations Dive Team, the Delaware State Police Marine Unit and Dive Team, Wilmington Police, the U.S. Coast Guard Air and Marine units, and other agencies responded to the scene, officials said.
Some lanes of the bridge were temporarily closed for a police investigation but have since reopened, the Delaware Memorial Bridge authority announced on social media.
Traffic delays appeared to have cleared around 9 a.m., officials posted on X.
