Photo: KGW

Car sinks in Willamette River; 1 dead

Photo: KGW
Photo: KGW

Clackamas, Ore. — (KGw) A car went into the Willamette River at a Gladstone park Sunday and one person died underwater, according to the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office.

“I was just shocked because it all happened really fast,” said Mayra Miranda, who saw the car go into the Willamette River at Meldrum Bar Park around 2:30 Sunday afternoon.

Lights and rescue teams made for a dramatic scene as Miranda stood with her family on the shore. She said she saw a car with two men and a woman drive into the water toward a jetty. They made it, but problems arose when the car turned around to come back to the shore.

“All of a sudden, the car sunk and all three were inside the car. They got off through the back window,” Miranda said.

That’s when passing boaters jumped into action, said Lt. Kirk Stempel with Gladstone Fire.

“A boat went in and rescued the two people. They tried to get the third person with no luck,” said Stempel.
Search and rescue crews went into the cold water and after an hour they found the body of that third person, a man in his late 30s.

The man and woman who escaped from the sunken car were taken to Providence Willamette Falls Medical Center, possibly suffering from hypothermia.

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