Tow truck that fell into Sacramento River located by dive team, no timeframe for recovery

Search teams believe they have located the tow truck that fell into the Sacramento River after a collision with a big rig Tuesday night, authorities said.

Divers using sonar found the truck near the Pioneer Bridge on Monday, according to California Highway Patrol public information officer Jim Young.

“They did locate what they suspect is the vehicle under water,” Young said. The divers did not physically put their hands on the truck, but were able to “take a picture” with sonar, Young said.

The tow truck is presumed to belong to Shalvinesh and Roselyn Sharma, a married couple that owns Justin’s Towing and who have been missing since the time of Tuesday’s accident.

Search efforts continued over the weekend after several days of hiatus. The initial rescue operation was called off Tuesday night because of the river’s fast current.

Now that the truck has been located, Young said, the truck will be recovered. The CHP and the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department are working with the Sharma family to plan the recovery, Young said.

Young said the most likely route to recovery is to float a barge with a crane up the river from the Bay Area. The barge crew could then work with divers to pull the truck from the river.

Because the recovery requires approval from Caltrans, which maintains the Pioneer Bridge, and PG&E, which maintains a pipeline under the Sacramento River, there is not a time frame in place for the recovery.

Young said he understands that the Sharma family wants to get the recovery done as quickly as possible.

“Of course, we want to bring closure to them,” Young said, “but we have to make sure that we follow all the rules and that it’s safe.”

This story was originally published April 1, 2019 at 5:18 PM with the headline "Tow truck that fell into Sacramento River located by dive team, no timeframe for recovery."