WATERVLIET — A driver whose car was crushed when a tractor- trailer rolled onto it on I-787 Thursday walked away with just a cut on his finger, authorities said.

The man, who was pushed into the car's passenger seat from the impact, was talking to firefighters as they cut away the flattened car and pulled him to safety. The accident occurred at 10:15 a.m. near the near the 23rd Street exit.

"He was laughing. He was happy to be alive," Watervliet Fire Chief Thomas Garrett said.

The weight of the tractor-trailer's 40,000-pound cargo of flour pancaked the car. Authorities said the driver was northbound on the highway and trying to pass the truck on the right. The car hit a guardrail, bounced off and then hit the tractor-trailer when it careened back into the road, authorities said.

The driver was thrown into the passenger's side of the vehicle which photographs show was slightly less compressed and the flattened driver's side.

"This was a one of a kind. I couldn't believe the guy was still alive," Garrett said.

Firefighters used airbags to partly lift the truck off the car so firefighters could cut the wreckage away. Two firefighters crawled under the wreck to cut apart the vehicle to yank the crash victim to safety.

It took about 30 minutes to cut the man out, said Garrett. "He was talking to us the entire time."

By 10:45 p.m., the man was in a Watervliet Fire Department ambulance on his way to Samaritan Hospital in Troy.

The State Police said, "the cause of the accident is still under investigation and no charges have been filed." They have not yet released the names of the two drivers.

Authorities at the scene said the driver of the tractor-trailer truck was not injured.

Later, they used the inflatable bag to lift the truck upright. As the vehicle came to rest on all of its tires, clouds of flour puffed out rips in the trailer.

All northbound lanes of I-787 were closed while authorities work at the scene. The heavily traveled road was closed for about four hours with it reopening to traffic shortly before 2:30 p.m.

Traffic was detoured off the northbound lanes at Exit 8 just before the highway crosses on a bridge over 23rd Street. Traffic then crossed 23rd Street to reenter the interstate on the northbound entrance by passing the accident scene.

A witness, Adam Surprenant, said the car passed him shortly before he came upon the crash site.

Surprenant said several drivers had stopped their vehicles and were running to help the drivers of the two vehicles.