This article was republished with permission from WTOP’s news partner InsideNoVa.com. Sign up for InsideNoVa.com’s free email subscription today.
This article was written by WTOP’s news partner InsideNoVa.com and republished with permission. Sign up for InsideNoVa.com’s free email subscription today.
Family and friends of a delivery driver whose truck plunged off the side of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel last week have launched a Facebook page to help find him.
“We are being told by search and rescue experts that he is drifting in the region of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. This is an ‘all call’ to people in the region who can help search for him,” his family wrote on the Finding Erik Mezick page. “We ask for anyone that is on the water this time of year to keep a close eye out! He needs to be brought home so this family can get some closure.”
A door from the Cloverland Greenspring Dairy truck Erik Mezick was driving was found Thursday, two days after the accident, at the beach in Sandbridge south of Virginia Beach, along with some other debris.
On Saturday, Mezick’s brother Kevin went out on the water with boaters to search the southern end of the Chesapeake Bay, and plans to return this week.
“I really need to find my brother Erik,” Kevin Mezick said in a public Facebook post. “I ask all fisherman, individuals on the beaches and hunters PLEASE KEEP AND EYE OUT. We need to bring closure to this tragic event and bring Erik home.”
Authorities are still investigating how the Dec. 29 accident happened. Police received a 911 call at 8:26 a.m. about the 20-foot truck going off the side of the bridge in the northbound lanes near the second island of the bridge complex. Witnesses reported seeing the truck go into the water and a man exit and drift west, according to the Coast Guard.
Despite a massive search effort, Mezick, 47, of Fruitland, Maryland, was not found. He leaves behind his wife of 24 years and two children.
The 17.6-mile Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel opened in 1964 and crosses over and under open waters where the Chesapeake Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean. Shortly after it opened, the bridge complex was named one of the seven engineering wonders of the modern world.
