Driver freed after truck leaves 101

Rescue workers carry Amar Kumar away from the wreckage of his tractor-trailer. The Daily Triplicate/Bryant Anderson

It took rescue workers about an hour using air-powered tools to extract the injured driver from his mangled cab after the accident at about 2 p.m.

He was identified by a California High­way Patrol officer as Amar Kumar, 48.

Kumar was listed in critical condition Thursday night at Sutter Coast Hospital and was being prepared for a flight to UC Davis Medical Center, a Sutter Coast spokesman said.

His northbound truck and trailer crossed the southbound lane just past  Hamilton Road three miles south of town.

The CHP did not have a report available Thursday evening. At 5:20 p.m., authorities were still trying to pull the truck up from the steep hill.

Authorities reported that the vehicle might have been a rental truck.

“He had yelled out that he only had one pallet of batteries,” said Del Norte County Sheriff’s Commander Tim Athey, who was one of the first officials to arrive at the scene.

“There were two bystanders out there that were helping him when I got here,” said Athey.

The truck barreled more than 100 feet through trees and brush before it jackknifed to the left, with the cab facing up hill when it came to rest.

Crescent City Fire Chief Steve Wakefield, who was coordinating the rescue, said a single tree that had torn into the trailer was preventing the rig from sliding farther and possibly toward more than a dozen emergency workers attempting to rescue Kumar.

The crews used the Jaws of Life, a pneumatic prying device, and other tools to tear open the cab and pull Kumar out from the passenger side.

Emergency workers said Kumar suffered an open left leg fracture was experiencing pain in his left shoulder. His right leg may have been broken as as well.

The CHP is still investigating the cause of the accident, which occurred on wet pavement.