Sonar shows car underwater after speeding off Virginia Beach pier; no body recovered yet
CBSN
Police have yet to recover a body from inside a car submerged in waters off Virginia Beach, officials said, more than three days after witnesses reported seeing the vehicle drive off of a pier and sonar technology pinpointed its location on the ocean floor.
The accident happened before 7 a.m. on Saturday morning, the city of Virginia Beach said in a news release. When police and fire officials arrived at the scene, they found a sunken vehicle that was "completely submerged" near the oceanfront pier. But rough conditions in the water obscured visibility and meant divers could not be deployed to conduct a search, according to the release.
Instead, authorities relied on sonar imaging to confirm the vehicle's position. Sonar — which is short for Sound Navigation and Ranging — is a mapping technique that uses sound waves for various purposes, including to detect objects beneath the surface of the water. CBS News obtained from the Virginia Beach Police Department a copy of one sonar image that showed the car on the ocean floor. Authorities determined that it was between 17 and 20 feet below the surface, according to police.
