WOODSTOCK — A local man was injured Wednesday morning when he lost control of his pickup truck and it plunged 50 feet down a steep embankment off Route 232, police said.

Daniel Coffin, 39, of Woodstock complained of pain after the 10 a.m. accident and was taken by PACE Ambulance to Stephens Memorial Hospital in Norway, Oxford County Deputy Sheriff Michael Halacy said.

The accident happened within 300 to 400 yards of Coffin’s home on a stretch of road locals call the “whale’s back” between Gore Road and Rumford Avenue. Halacy said it was halfway between where the old Woodstock town dump and the Whales Back Cemetery.

He said Coffin was driving toward Route 26 just beyond the cemetery when he lost control of his 2002 GMC pickup truck in slush.

A witness, who was driving in the opposite direction and called 911 at 10:02 a.m., said Coffin “drove right off the side of the road and disappeared.”

Halacy said the truck traveled 50 feet down a steep embankment, running over small trees, but missing large ones.

“He is incredibly, incredibly lucky, because there were many big trees that he could have hit,” Halacy said.

The truck stayed upright. Woodstock and Greenwood firefighters had to use a Stokes basket to bring Coffin up to the ambulance.

Route 232 was shut down for about an hour. Rumford firefighters were called to detour tractor-trailer-truck traffic bound for Route 26 along Route 2 to Route 26 in Bethel, Halacy said.

At the time of the accident, a Gaudreau’s Repairs tow truck from Bethel happened by and retrieved the wrecked truck, he said.

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