2 survive after driver loses control and drives off 50-foot cliff in Buffalo Creek

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) -- Two passengers survived after their vehicle fell off a cliff into a creek near Clinton Street in West Seneca on Sunday afternoon, the East Seneca Fire Company said.

WIVB News 4 obtained security footage that shows the exact moment a white BMW loses control on Clinton Street and the falls over a cliff, landing 50 feet below in the Buffalo Creek.

"It was a surreal moment seeing a car upside down, off a cliff, in water," said East Seneca Fire Company Chief Norman Locher, who was one of the first people to arrive on the scene.

Crews responded to a report of a car that went off the road at Clinton Street around 2:15 p.m. Since the car was in the water, Chief Locher called in the West Seneca Water Rescue Team to safely reach the driver and passenger.

"My initial thoughts were we had a car in the water on its roof where we had the potential for the occupants drowning and that we may need to use specialized equipment to stabilize the car in the creek, depending on the flow in that particular area of the creek and what other assets we may need in order to extricate a patient," said John Monson, coordinator for West Seneca Water Rescue.

The two passengers were able to escape the car themselves. Both passengers were taken to the Erie County Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries, officials said.

"It's very surprising to everybody that was involved with this," said Chief Locher. "In regular accidents that just involved the roadway, people get trapped very, very badly and with these patients coming off a cliff 50 feet and with all the weight of the vehicle landing on its roof, we are just shocked that these patients were able to climb out of the car by themselves and not be trapped."

Crews then spent several hours removing the car from the water. Officials said if the water level was any higher, this could have had a different outcome.

"At the end of the day, that could've been much different. We could be talking about drowning we could be talking about a very technical rescue to get them out of that vehicle," Monson said.