Woman extracted from canal after car accident

WINTERHAVEN — A 58-year-old Yuma woman was hospitalized with minor injuries at about 1 p.m. Monday after being pulled from the All-American Canal by officers and passersby after her vehicle ended up in the canal near State Route 186, the California Highway Patrol reported.

Prior to being pulled from the canal by CHP officers and a passerby, Martha Sillas was able to exit her vehicle, only to be pushed underwater and through a canal gate by the current, before managing to grab hold of a flow meter, the CHP reported

“It was actually amazing that the driver survived,” said CHP Officer Jeff Knutson in an email. “Very few people who crash into the canal there come out alive.”

Sillas had been traveling alone north on SR 186 (Andrade Road) approaching a left-hand curve when for reasons unknown the car drifted into the right-hand dirt shoulder, prompting Sillas to overcorrect to the left, causing her vehicle to travel across both the northbound and southbound lanes of Andrade Road, a CHP accident report stated.

As Sillas’ vehicle approached a guard rail on the road’s west side, she reportedly turned her vehicle to the right, but not before its left rear back tire struck the guard rail, the CHP report stated.

Sillas’ vehicle then traveled back across both lanes of traffic, over a raised concrete curb, and struck a metal guard rail before plunging into the canal, the CHP reported.

Once in the canal, Sillas was able to exit her vehicle, but was pushed underwater and through a canal gate before emerging on the other side and grabbing ahold of a flow meter, the CHP reported.

Responding CHP officers and a passerby were then able to extract Sillas from the canal. Alcohol is not suspected of having played a role in the incident, the CHP reported.

Sillas was transported to Yuma Regional Medical Center with minor injuries.