One person has been confirmed dead following a single vehicle accident on Highway 411 just South of Leesburg on Wednesday night, emergency crews were dispatched to the scene at 8:15 following a 9-1-1 call reporting a vehicle had left the roadway, going into the lake.

Emergency responders arrived on the scene to find a mini-van completely submerged in the water with the driver still inside. Several law enforcement officers, firefighters, EMS personnel and rescue workers went into the water to assist with helping to free the victim from the vehicle.

Cherokee County Coroner Jeremy Deaton stated that the victim, a 19 year old resident of Sand Rock, Barbara Ann Phipps, was pronounced dead at the scene from multiple blunt force trauma to the head and neck.

The driver apparently left the roadway, striking a power pole breaking it in half and then continued off the road between the guardrail and the lake before going airborne and crashing into the water.

It took a large wrecker with a boom arm to remove the vehicle from the water with the assistance from the Cherokee County Rescue Squad who launched a boat into the lake, traffic was completely shut down for well over an hour as Cherokee Electric crews worked to reset a new power pole.

Several agencies responded to the scene to assist; the Leesburg Police and Fire Department, Cherokee EMS and the Cherokee County Rescue Squad, Cherokee County Sheriff’s Department, the Cherokee County Coroner’s Office and the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency.