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PMR Recovers Body of Motor Vehicle Accident Victim
Sunday, August 31, 2003

At the request of the Clackamas Country (OR) Sheriff's Office, eight Portland Mountain Rescue volunteers responded Sunday morning to recover the body of a motor vehicle accident victim.

The victim, a male approximately 28 years old, had been ejected from a vehicle after it left a rural road late Saturday night. Details are still under investigation, but evidently two men were driving on Abbott Road, a relatively straight gravel road, outside of the town of Estacada when the driver lost control sending the truck rolling about 100 feet down an embankment.

It is unknown if the deceased party was driving or if he was the passenger, but he was thrown another 65 feet down the hill and died from the resulting injuries. The other person in the truck was injured, but able to crawl up the hill and walk until finding another motorist to summon help. Alcohol is suspected to be a factor in the accident, but that has not been officially stated as the cause.

The area of the crash was steep enough that technical extraction was needed, so PMR placed the man's body into a rescue litter and hauled it up to the roadside. The effort required a simple pulley and rope system much the same as used for cliff and crevasse rescues. PMR specializes in these types of technical rescues and will respond to non-mountain missions, like this one, as local authorities require.