A 74-year-old Albert Lea woman died Friday when her vehicle went off the road and submerged in a drainage ditch in southeastern Freeborn County.

The Freeborn County Sheriff’s Office stated Joyce Chapek, 74, was driving a 2006 Ford Explorer north on Freeborn County Road 30 south of Freeborn County Road 46 about one mile when she went off the road and her vehicle went into a ditch near the road’s crossing with 190th Street.

Chief Deputy Todd Earl stated Chapek was discovered by county highway department employees who were in the area working on road maintenance and who came across the vehicle upside down and submerged in the drainage ditch.

The employees hooked up a log chain and rolled the vehicle over as they called 911 to see if there was something they could do to assist and found Chapek in the vehicle, he said.

Earl estimated the vehicle had been in the ditch for one or two hours and said the probable cause of Chapek’s death was due to drowning.

Roads were icy at the time of the crash.