WASHINGTON — A man was taken to the hospital early Saturday morning after escaping from a car that went off a Capital Beltway ramp into a retention pond in Maryland. Around 4 a.m., the Prince George’s County Fire Department responded to a retention pond off the Inner Loop of the Capital Beltway, near the Landover Road exit. When firefighters arrived on the scene, the car was already 80 percent submerged in the pond.

U/D IL Beltway at Landover Road. PGFD Images from scene — outline of vehicle can be seen underwater as crews above are conducting search for any possible occupants. Earlier primary search showed vehicle was empty — secondary/more through search in progress @MDSP @MDSHA @HCDFRS pic.twitter.com/NF3jRb9MFF

— Mark Brady (@PGFDPIO) December 29, 2018

The driver was able to climb out of the vehicle on his own, before the car sunk below the waterline. The driver suffered injuries that were not life-threatening. Members of the Prince George’s County Fire Department and the Howard County Fire Department used a sonar/water robot to make sure no one else was in the water. The ramp to the Beltway was shut for several hours. Below is a map of where the incident occurred: [google_map latitude=”38.9142″ longitude=”-76.8508″ zoom=”13″ height=”300px” location_label=”” dynamic_map=”false”]