06:33 PM PST on Friday, April 1, 2005

By ABE ESTIMADA and ANTONIA GIEDWOYN, kgw.com Staff

A crane, accompanied by a small fleet of private and Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office riverboats, pulled up the battered Isuzu Rodeo sport utility vehicle that had plunged to the bottom of the Willamette River from the Morrison Bridge last weekend.

KGW

The SUV that had plunged into the Willamette River is lifted up on Friday.

During the salvage operation on Friday, the crane also retrieved the guardrail that the SUV tore through as it went off the bridge on Saturday. Divers found the guardrail near the SUV and roped it to the vehicle on Thursday, said Lt. Mike Schults of the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office. Found on the car's damage was the wallet belonging to the driver, Melissa Borgaard.

Borgaard survived not only the 60 foot fall into the water while still in the SUV but also the 55 foot plunge to the bottom of the Willamette.

Borgaard said she lost control of her SUV on the slippery steel grating of the Morrison Bridge during a rainstorm.

While underwater, Borgaard, 31, held her breath, freed herself from her seatbelt and swam out of the SUV through a broken driver's side window, kicking her way up until she reached the water's surface.

An off-duty Portland Fire Bureau firefighter swam to Borgaard, loaded her on to a kickboard, and pulled her to a Multnomah County River Patrol boat that had rushed to the scene.

Borgaard’s only injuries were bumps and bruises. Watching the SUV rise from the water, Borgaard teared up.

“Seeing my car it was just like, ‘Oh, my God, I can’t believe it,’” Borgaard said.

The SUV is a total loss, Schults said.

“This car is pretty much a done deal,” he said. “The back is all smashed up. The front is smashed. There’s considerable damage all over. It’s almost in the shape of an accordion.”

AP

U.S. Environmental Services workers pull the SUV belonging to Melissa Borgaard out of the Willamette as people look on from the waterfront.

Investigators will examine the SUV and look for clues on how the accident occurred, Schults said. After being taken from the water, the SUV was loaded onto a barge. The barge will take the car, being held by the company that coordinated the salvage, to a dock in Portland.

From there, the car will be towed to a State Farm Insurance Company lot, also in Portland, Schults said.

The insurance and salvage companies moved quickly to pull up the SUV because it could pose a risk to boats and ships. Leaking gas and oil from the car could also be an environmental hazard, Schults said.

“You never know, with the turbulence of this river, with the river rising and falling, you don’t want something like that sitting at the bottom of the river, especially with the commerce that comes up and down this river every day,” Schults said.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)