OURAY COUNTY, Colo. (KDVR) — A man was hospitalized after the vehicle he was driving plunged off of a Colorado mountain pass Thursday morning, authorities said.

The Ouray County Sheriff’s Office said Dack Klein, a Colorado Department of Transportation driver, came across a debris field on the Red Mountain Pass and heard the man crying out for help “in what had to have been a grueling and terrifying event.”

The CDOT driver spotted the man’s vehicle in a river hundreds of feet below the road. The sheriff’s office said the passenger spent hours yelling for help before being spotted.

A technical rescue was carried out with the help of the Ouray Volunteer Fire Department, Ouray Mountain Rescue Team, Ouray Police Department, CDOT, and Ouray County Sheriff’s Office.

The driver was taken to Fellin Park and then transported via Care Flight to Montrose Memorial Hospital, according to the sheriff’s office. His condition has not been released.

No further information about the driver or the circumstances of the incident were immediately available.

  • Photos courtesy of Ouray County Sheriff’s Office and Ruth Stewart)
  • Photos courtesy of Ouray County Sheriff’s Office and Ruth Stewart)
  • Photos courtesy of Ouray County Sheriff’s Office and Ruth Stewart)
  • Photos courtesy of Ouray County Sheriff’s Office and Ruth Stewart)
  • Photos courtesy of Ouray County Sheriff’s Office and Ruth Stewart)
  • Photos courtesy of Ouray County Sheriff’s Office and Ruth Stewart)
  • Photos courtesy of Ouray County Sheriff’s Office and Ruth Stewart)
  • Photos courtesy of Ouray County Sheriff’s Office and Ruth Stewart)
  • Photos courtesy of Ouray County Sheriff’s Office and Ruth Stewart)
  • Photos courtesy of Ouray County Sheriff’s Office and Ruth Stewart)
  • Photos courtesy of Ouray County Sheriff’s Office and Ruth Stewart)
  • Photos courtesy of Ouray County Sheriff’s Office and Ruth Stewart)
  • Photos courtesy of Ouray County Sheriff’s Office and Ruth Stewart)