Salem-News.com Portland Drowning articles

Teen Drowns While Swimming in Willamette River

Fire and rescue crews remind everyone swimming or playing in any body of water in Oregon to wear a life jacket, whether or not you are a good swimmer.

(PORTLAND, Ore. ) - Rescue crews are still searching for the body of a teenager who drowned Friday afternoon while swimming in the Willamette River near the Sellwood Bridge has been recovered.

Portland Fire and Rescue says 18-year-old Mario Antonio Martinez Villalta was swimming with another person from the East Bank of the Willamette River near a construction barge and was having trouble making it back to shore.