By Christopher Williams,Staff Writer

The search continued Monday for a Lisbon trucker whose rig was swallowed last week by a crevasse that stretched the width of an interstate highway in western New York.

Helicopters, air-boats, divers and dogs have been scouring the area east of Binghamton, N.Y., for Patrick O’Connell, 55, of Worumbo Estates in Lisbon.

O’Connell was en route to Cuba, N.Y., to pick up a load of cheese when the tractor-trailer truck he was driving careened into a 50-foot wide hole where a flooded creek washed out a sluice pipe.

His truck plummeted 25 feet into the hole. Rescuers were unable to reach the driver of the rig before he was swept downstream, according to New York State Police Lt. Robert Galletto.

After the water receded Sunday, O’Connell’s Volvo sleeper cab was found in Carrs Creek, about a mile from the hole on Interstate 88; the trailer, about three miles downstream in the Susquehanna River. Both were identified as those driven by O’Connell, Galletto said.

The driver had left early in the morning on Wednesday, June 28, from Micucci’s Wholesale Foods Inc. in Portland, where he worked for about eight years.

At 5:52 a.m., the satellite tracking device on his truck stopped working, said Bruce Micucci, part owner and president of the company.

“It’s hard to believe … you’re driving along and all of a sudden, you’re gone,” he said.

Micucci said O’Connell was the oldest and most experienced on his roster of drivers. He drove in all weather conditions and served as a father figure or mentor to many of the younger drivers. He drove mostly long-haul routes, was in good physical shape and conscientious about safety issues, Micucci said.

“He was extremely professional and took his job very seriously,” Micucci said. He showed up on time and never missed a day of work. He always wore a smile and was liked by everyone, Micucci said.

He was born in Lewiston and attended schools in Auburn, said longtime friend John Ziehm. Although he now lives in Lisbon, O’Connell frequents the many Lewiston social clubs where he is a member and has many friends in the Twin Cities, Ziehm said.

O’Connell is considered one of the best mechanics in town, Ziehm said, having served as head mechanic for a top fuel dragster that recently won two New England championships.

He also has a passion for lobstering, which he did on weekends with his brother, Dan, in Harpswell, where O’Connell has a summer camp.

If O’Connell had drowned in New York, it would be a fitting end for a man who loved his job and the water, Ziehm said.

“He wouldn’t want to go any other way,” he said, “driving a truck and then going out to sea.”

His grandparents had a saltwater farm in Harpswell, where O’Connell spent summers growing up. His camp is surrounded by family homes, Ziehm said.

O’Connell is divorced and has two grown stepdaughters. His mother lives in Lisbon Falls.

Ziehm said his friend is a “hard-working, energetic good man who lived everyday of his life to its fullest.”

Galletto, the police lieutenant, said the search would continue on July 4 and after, if necessary, combing through piles of debris deposited by the flood waters.

The flooding was the result of four days of rain that dumped 7 inches in western New York, including a record 4 inches on June 27, the day before the washout.

Another trucker’s rig was lost in the same hole. Rescue workers recovered the body of David Swingle, 42, of Waverly, N.Y.

A second casualty of the storm was that of Robert Stockwell, 31, of Norwich, N.Y., who was driving in a neighboring county on a local road that had washed out, Galletto said.

The affected stretch of Route 88, where the hole had widened to 100 feet, remains closed, he said.