Car plunges down Mississippi River embankment; victim rescued

A driver was rescued after his car broke through a retaining fence and plunged down an embankment near the Mississippi River on Tuesday morning.

According to Minneapolis city officials, two employees of the city's Public Works Department discovered that a man had driven off West River Parkway near E. 26th Street and plunged more than 200 feet down a Mississippi River embankment before his car came to a rest below some large trees near the river's edge.

PHOTOS: Rescue on the Mississippi

The man apparently had been trapped there for about three hours by the time rescuers got to him at 8:18 a.m.

Minneapolis Fire Department rescue crews used a rope system to lower the man to the riverbank, where he was given emergency treatment for hypothermia and frostbite. He was then transferred onto a Hennepin County Water Patrol air boat and taken to the University of Minnesota river flats, where an ambulance took him to a local hospital for treatment.

The man's condition is unknown, but officials said he was "alert and oriented" during the rescue. Officials said there were no passengers in the vehicle.