**A previous report from the RCMP indicating that the driver had passed away has been retracted.**
A man is in critical condition after a single vehicle crash, just south of Calgary city limits, ended with an SUV in the Bow River.
According to police, a dark-coloured SUV, make and model not confirmed. was heading northbound on the highway shortly after 2:30 p.m. when it left the road, travelled down an embankment and crashed into the river at a location south of the community of Cranston and north of Dunbow Road.
Calgary Fire Department Battalion Chief Paul LeBlanc said the rescuers were there in record time.
"It ended up in the river on its side. Luckily we had our aquatics rescue specialist team that happened to be on the water patrolling at that end of town and they ended up on scene within about a minute of it actually happening. They didn’t witness it but they were there very, very quickly," said LeBlanc. "They managed to get him out quickly and managed to get him over to AHS within about 5 minutes."
EMS public education officer Adam Loria says a man, age not confirmed, was transported by ground ambulance to the Foothills Medical Centre in critical, life threatening condition with various, undisclosed injuries.
The man is believed to have been the lone occupant of the SUV.
A preliminary investigation into the crash determined the SUV struck the median of the highway.
Monica Madsen-James' son was fishing in the river when the vehicle flew over him.
"He said the car flew right over his head and flipped," said Madsen-James. "He was standing down below and it just barely missed him."
Madsen-James says her son is pretty shaken up by the ordeal.
The impact of the crash spooked the fisherman's dog, a chocolate pit bull named Kahlua, and the animal bolted. The dog was last seen running along the south bank of the river.
Traffic on Deerfoot Trail experienced severe delays in the area as both northbound and southbound traffic was reduced to a single lane.
