A car drove off the end of the Virginia Beach pier and plunged into the sea, sparking a rescue effort by police.
Around 6.50am Saturday, a car crashed through the barriers of the 14th Street pier and sped down the length of it.
It braked briefly before driving through the wooden balustrade at the end of the pier and over the edge, as police say it is now ‘at the bottom of the ocean.’
A young woman standing on the beach caught the incident on camera when she heard a loud crash and started filming.
Virginia Beach police are working to recover the car and any occupants, but said they did not know how many people were inside or the cause of the crash even a day after it plunged into the water.
The taillights of the car were visible as it drove down the pier
It seemed to brake before the end before driving over the edge
The pier is 650 feet long and the water at the end is around 15ft deep. Water temperatures are around in the mid-40s.
It wasn’t immediately clear if police had sent a dive team to check the car or to check for any survivors. As of Sunday afternoon, police had not confirmed if there were any victims or survivors of the crash.
They said: Due to adverse water conditions and concerns for diver safety, the planned vehicle recovery off the pier today had to be postponed.
‘The weather, though appearing nice, posed risks, and maintaining the stability of the contracted salvage barge was challenging. We’ll reassess and devise a new plan for a safe and effective recovery operation.’
Witnesses said the car turned onto the boardwalk from Atlantic Avenue at speed and crashed through the first barriers on the pier.
Spokesperson for the Virginia Beach Police Department Jude Brenya told 13NewsNow: ‘The vehicle just drove into the boardwalk, onto the pier end then into the water.
‘The vehicle is at the bottom of the ocean.’
He added: ‘We have an idea of where the vehicle location is. The challenge is being able to recover that vehicle from the water.
‘And that’s what they need to figure out. What resources it would take to figure that out.’
The pier is 650 feet long and the water at the end is around 15ft deep. Water temperatures are around in the mid-40s
The car smashed through two barriers to reach the end of the pier
Police received a call around 6.50 am on Saturday, but as of Sunday afternoon the car is yet to be recovered
One of the women who caught the incident on camera, Kaylynn Crawford, told Wavy: ‘We saw at first it was going really fast. We thought it was just going to go for it.
‘But toward the end, the car started to slow down, and it kind of looked as if it almost teeter-tottered at the end. Then, it all of a sudden just dropped down over the pier.’
Charlotte Murphy, who works at a seafood restaurant on the pier, told the outlet: ‘They went through three gates which is pretty crazy and these are really, really strong gates. It’s really crazy to think about.
‘As soon as I got down here I was like, ‘Holy cow that is the craziest thing that I’ve heard in a long, long time.’