Crews pulled this submerged SUV from St. Mary's Bay on Tuesday. The driver swerved to avoid hitting a moose on a nearby regional highway. (CBC)

One of the two men who escaped from their vehicle after it landed in Newfoundland's St. Mary's Bay after they swerved to avoid a moose said they escaped because their vehicle floated for a while before sinking.

Father and son Anthony and Mark Hiscock were travelling on Route 94 toward Admiral's Beach on Monday night, when they encountered a moose in their path.

Mark Hiscock points to where he and his father encountered a moose on Monday night. (CBC)

"We came around there, by the turn, and it was right in the middle of the road," Mark Hiscock, whose father was driving the sports utility vehicle, told CBC News.

"He didn't want to hit it, so I supposed he made a turn too far," Hiscock said with a chuckle.

Although he was able to smile about the encounter on Tuesday, Hiscock admitted there was "a lot" of panic in the vehicle in the SUV during the incident.

"She just went down over the bank, hit the rocks and she just went out into the [water]," he said.

The Hiscocks had enough time to escape from the vehicle before it sank, with most of it submerged. Hiscock said they were able to swim through frigid waters, and place a call for help on their cellphone.

The SUV was pulled from the water on Tuesday.

By coincidence, a government crew was clearing brush along Route 94 on Tuesday, while that effort was underway. Moose are often attracted to the sides of highways because of alders and other vegetation they can eat.

The Newfoundland and Labrador government estimates about 700 moose-vehicle accidents occur each year, mostly between May and October.