Watson Lake man recounts escape from car sinking in Yukon River

A Watson Lake, Yukon, man defied the odds this week when he crashed his car into the frigid Yukon River, squeezed out the window of the sinking vehicle and swam for his life.

Roger Latondress, 64, was on his way home Monday from a shopping trip to Whitehorse in a Mazda 6 he borrowed from a friend. The car was carrying groceries, Christmas presents and a new set of dentures.

He hadn't gone far before the snow made it difficult to see the road. When he reached the Lewes River Bridge, on the Alaska Highway about 30 kilometres south of Whitehorse, he misjudged the road and veered the wrong way.

"The minute I did that, I realized I made a huge mistake," Latondress said. "It was either hit the bridge, or fly off into the Yukon River. So away I went, off into the Yukon River."

"My whole life flashed in front of me — this is the way I'm going to go, eh?"

Narrow escape

He hit the water with "a hell of a crash" and felt the icy water coming up his legs. That's when he "got busy" trying to extricate himself.

Latondress realized that opening his door would cause the car to sink faster, so he rolled down the window, which caused the sinking car to tilt.

"All I could say was 'oh my God, oh my God,'" Latondress recalled. "I didn't even pay attention to how I felt, but by God, I gave it everything I had."

He managed to squeeze out and push himself away from the car just as it sank below the surface. Latondress said he doesn't know how to swim, but he managed to dog-paddle to the shore about 10 metres away.

Numb with cold, he crawled up the snowy bank. 

Latondress was lucky — two truckers had seen him go off the bridge and ran to help. They got him inside a warm truck and into some dry clothes.

'Bloody lucky'

An ambulance took Latondress to hospital in Whitehorse to get checked out. His caregivers told him it was a miracle he survived.

"Then it all started sinking in — all the events that happened had to be perfectly right on, or else I would have died," he said.

"I'm reviewing my whole life and thinking how bloody lucky I am to have enough stamina to do what I did, and the fact that those guys were right there to save my ass, too. Yeah, I'm happy to be here." 

Friends of Latondress have started a GoFundMe campaign to salvage the submerged vehicle and hire a scuba diver to retrieve some of his belongings.