Driver missing after car crashed into Sacramento River. 2 passengers swam to safety, CHP says

A driver from Antioch crashed his car last Friday into the Sacramento River in Walnut Grove and remains missing nearly a week later after he and his two passengers plunged into water, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The passengers — a 39-year-old man from Davis and a 47-year-old woman from Vacaville — swam to the shore and were dripping wet when officers who were dispatched at 5:50 p.m. arrived, said a news release from the CHP’s South Sacramento office. It happened around River Road, south of Twin Cities Road in Walnut Grove, CHP said.

Driving a 2012 Ford, the Antioch motorist, described as a 35-year-old man, left the roadway going south on River Road for unknown reasons, slid down an embankment and was fully submerged in the waters, the news release said. No other vehicles were involved in the incident, CHP reported.

Law enforcement didn’t find the driver’s body in the waters when they searched Saturday and recovered the vehicle, the news release said.

It’s also unclear what relation each person had to one another, or if they knew each other.