KGO photographer Ian Babcock described his experience after a mudslide took out his news van in the same spot another KGO news van was hit last month.
The San Francisco ABC-owned station says Babcock is recovering at home after Tuesday’s accident.
“Oh my God, the airbag went off, Jesus Christ, the whole–the whole mountain came down on top of me,” said Babcock after the landslide hit his van.
“Babcock found himself trapped inside his vehicle as trees and rocks fell from above,” says KGO. “It was three in the morning and he was on his way to work.”
In video he shot during the ordeal, you can hear Babcock telling someone before firefighters freed him from his vehicle, “I’m pretty good. My shoulder’s sore. I’m bleeding from the head a little bit. But I’m alright.”
“The whole mountain just exploded in front of me,” he said inside the vehicle. “It just–it didn’t come down in front of me. It came straight–sideways…that was it. I hit a boulder at 45 miles per hour.”
He says for a moment the world went black but then, “I could feel the truck getting raised up onto two wheels and the sound at that point was deafening,” said Babcock. “I’m getting pushed off the highway as there’s boulders coming in and branches coming in and I’m thinking, ‘This is it, I’m done.’
Video form inside his vehicle:
Here’s his story on the KGO website: