Hartsville, S.C : Divers recover body of truck driver in Augusta Canal on June 26th 2014.

After searching the Augusta Canal for 12 hours, authorities Thursday recovered the body of a truck driver about 300 yards downstream from where he lost control of his 18-wheeler and drove off Interstate 20 into the water near the state line.

Cedric Miller, 48, of Hartsville, S.C., was killed in the accident, according to Richmond County Coroner Mark Bowen. An autopsy will be performed in Atlanta.

Sgt. Michael McDaniel, a spokesman for the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office, said in a news release that the wreck occurred at 3:51 a.m. when, for “reasons unknown,” the semi’s cab left the right side of I-20 East, hit the bridge railing and fell into the canal.

The sheriff’s office’s Serious Traffic Accident Response unit and officials from the state Department of Natural Resources aided in the search. Wayne Taylor, the battalion chief of the Richmond County Fire Department, said rescuers used underwater sonar technology to find the body.

The tractor-trailer was at least the third to run off the canal bridge in recent years.

Rodney Way, the Georgia Department of Transportation’s area engineer, said the overpass is scheduled to be replaced in 2016, along with the Savannah River bridge crossing into South Carolina.

Way said that the cost and time estimates have yet to be set for the replacement and that there is no known cause for why truckers are having trouble with the bridge.

McDaniel said the DOT replaced the bridge railing.

A review of reports and three years of wreck data from the DOT showed that at least 26 wrecks causing 23 injuries occurred along Interstate 20 at the state line from 2011 to 2013. Half were single-vehicle accidents, and six involved tractor-trailers. Crashes involved parked vehicles, deer, guardrails and median barriers.

Source :
Divers recover body of truck driver in Augusta Canal