Man, cat rescued after single-vehicle crash in Port Hardy

A man and his cat are safe after being rescued from a pickup truck that went into an estuary in Port Hardy Wednesday afternoon.

The incident happened shortly before 3:30 p.m. along Goodspeed Road.

“(The driver) took the corner a little too sharp and slid off into the water and he was okay, he was conscious and aware and the cat was fine” says Port Hardy Fire Chief Brent Borg.

The pickup had landed on its side and may have then experienced some electronics problems, which trapped the driver and his feline inside the vehicle.

Borg estimates the truck was only in about two feet of water.

“It wasn’t much, lucky it was low tide, it would have been a different story if it was high tide,” he says.

Members of the Port Hardy Fire Department broke a window and then pried a door open to extricate the man, who Borg says was “a little wet and cold.”

Animal control was called to the scene to deal with the cat. RCMP are still investigating the incident.