A trucker was killed Thursday when the flatbed he was driving veered off a rural road in the far northern reaches of San Diego County and plunged about 50 feet down a steep embankment.
The fatal crash in the 3400 block of Sandia Creek Drive in De Luz was reported shortly before 1 p.m., according to the California Highway Patrol.
Emergency crews arrived to find the truck upside down in a brushy ravine, surrounded by wooden posts it had been hauling, CHP public-affairs Officer Mark Latulippe said. The unidentified driver was pronounced dead at the scene.
A tow truck was called in to pull the victim and the flatbed out of the gorge, a process that was expected to continue into the late afternoon, according to Latulippe.
It was unclear why the trucker lost control of the vehicle, which was headed south at the time of the accident, the spokesman said.