The boat involved in a fatal crash on the Columbia River last week was recovered Wednesday.
The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office Dive Team located the sunken boat. Fred Devine Salvage, a marine salvage contractor, pulled the sunken boat out of the river, the sheriff’s office said.
Assessing the vessel will help investigators determine how the crash occurred, the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office said.
Steven Schalk, 55, of Milwaukie, Ore., and Heidi Knight, 46, of Wilsonville, Ore., were traveling on the Columbia River in a speed boat around 8:15 p.m. May 22 when they slammed into one of the Interstate 205 Bridge’s support pylons, according to the sheriff’s office.
Knight was hospitalized after the crash but did not survive.
Schalk, the boat’s operator, was treated for injuries that were not life-threatening, the sheriff’s office said. The crash sank the boat.
Good Samaritans on the north shore of the Columbia River used their boat to recover Schalk and Knight, bringing them to land where they performed CPR until deputies and paramedics arrived, Multnomah County sheriff’s Lt. Chad Gaidos said.
Gaidos said Schalk and Knight were in a 22-foot, two-seat speed boat that appeared to have been traveling around 40 to 50 mph at the time of the crash.
As of last week, investigators believed speed, water conditions and some sort of impairment factored into the crash, Gaidos said.
The East County Vehicular Crash Team is continuing the investigation into the crash.
