Couple Survives After Car Plunges 45 Feet Into Oregon River
Giovanni Demartino, 22, and Danie Fournier, 23, are lucky to be alive. Their car fell 30-feet onto the edge of an embankment and then tumbled another 15 feet, landing upside down in Oregon's rapidly flowing Molalla River early Sunday morning, according to Lt. Byron Wakefield of the Molalla Fire Department. The car was almost completely submerged.
Demartino, who was driving, remains in critical condition, while Fournier is in stable condition.
The couple managed to get out of the vehicle - which had filled with about 6 feet of water - before several good Samaritans and rescue personnel arrived at the scene.
"One guy was hanging onto the bumper and the other [person] had swum downstream," Wakefield told ABC News.
People driving behind the crashed vehicle flagged down another car for assistance before stepping in to help themselves.
"Crews arriving found two men on top of the vehicle in the water. One of the males was the driver who was pulled from the water by a male who was not involved in the crash," according to a statement from the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office.
Those who'd seen the car tumble located Fournier, who had swum to shore on the other side of the river.
About 35 rescue personnel from six different rescue agencies preformed a high and low angle rescue for the couple, who were then transported to the Oregon Health and Science University hospital.
"Alcohol is believed to have been a factor in this crash," according to the sheriff's office. "The case has been forwarded to the Clackamas County District Attorney's Office for charges of Driving Under the Influence of Intoxicants and Assault."