A man’s body was pulled from the Willamette River on Wednesday morning just north of the Steel Bridge, after emergency crews returned to the downtown waterfront where callers had reported seeing someone in the water the night before.
At least two people dialed 911 around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday to report a man swimming near the McCormick Pier Condominiums. Portland Fire & Rescue searched the area that night but did not find him. By Wednesday morning, the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office River Patrol had turned to sonar to scan the water, then deployed its dive team to recover a body at about 9:45 a.m. The remains were taken to the Portland Fire & Rescue Station 21 dock, then transferred to the Multnomah County Medical Examiner, which will determine the person’s identity and the cause and manner of death, according to KATU.
How Search Teams Zeroed In On The Body
The county’s River Patrol unit operates vessels that carry sonar equipment and a trained dive team, which respond to water rescues and recoveries. Those tools were used to locate and retrieve the body. The River Patrol regularly works in tandem with Portland Fire & Rescue on waterfront emergencies, according to the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office.
A Troubling Run Of Waterfront Recoveries
This latest recovery lands amid other recent river incidents. Earlier this week, crews pulled a decomposed body from the Willamette near the Kevin J. Duckworth Memorial Dock, a reminder that the riverfront often becomes the focus of searches and recoveries, as reported in a decomposed body pulled from the Willamette. Local officials have previously noted that such recoveries on the Willamette are not unusual and frequently require several agencies to coordinate in the field.
The Multnomah County Medical Examiner will make the official identification and determine the cause and manner of death. Investigators have not released further details while that work continues.
