WOODSTOCK, N.B. — Rescue crews were astounded when a truck driver walked away after the cab of his tractor-trailer fell 15 metres from a bridge in New Brunswick this week.

When RCMP, ambulance and fire crews arrived at the Meduxnekeag River bridge on the Trans-Canada Highway, the cab portion of the truck had torn away and fallen off the bridge to the river bed below. To their shock, the driver was walking up the steep snow-covered embankment to meet them.

“It’s a miracle how far the truck fell. I can’t believe it. He just walked up the embankment,” Woodstock Fire Chief Ricky Nicholson says. “We got a call to bring in the jaws of life that a tractor-trailer was hanging off the bridge. You expect the worse case scenario.”

The truck driver, who is from North Sydney, N.S., was taken to hospital with a gash on his head and broken ribs.

Jerry Marchand, safety manager for Tom MacDonald Trucking in Sydney, N.S., spoke to his driver from the hospital once doctors had treated his injuries.

“He couldn’t believe how lucky he was. He fell that far with his seat belt on,” Marchand says. “He saw people coming down the hill and he got out of the truck and started up the hill to meet them.”

RCMP Corp. Rick Ross said the accident is still under investigation, but slippery roads and snowy conditions may have played a role in the crash.