WASATCH COUNTY, Utah -- A semi-trailer hauling live turkeys crashed into Deer Creek Reservoir Thursday morning, forcing UHP troopers to close some of the lanes on SR-189.
According to UHP Sgt. Todd Royce, the truck was headed southbound on SR-189 near mile post 18 when it did not negotiate a turn and struck a guard rail.
The semi-trailer rolled over the guard rail and 75 to 100 feet down an embankment into the reservoir.
Royce said the driver was ejected from the vehicle and taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries. He was treated and released Thursday morning.
The right southbound lane of SR-189 is expected to be closed for the day and both southbound lanes could close as the truck is removed from the water.
"We'll have traffic control set up here most of the day," said Lt. Randy Richey, Utah Highway Patrol. "We will have one lane running in each direction and it will be most of the day to get the truck up out of the water, the turkeys out of the water, the clean up and the guard rail replaced."
The Wasatch County Health Department is also on scene to deal with the fuel spill and the impact of dead animals in the reservoir which provides fresh drinking water to several hundred thousand people in Utah County.
Dive teams are attached hooks to the semi-trailer so that a crane can pull the truck out of the reservoir.
Witnesses told officials the truck was traveling too fast into the curve and was clipping the guard rail before it crashed. Lt. Richey said this area of the road is generally not an issue, expect for a few slide outs in bad winter conditions.
