Crane lifts tank from river
by Abe Estimada

Contractors armed with an 80-foot crane fished out a 30-ton propane tank Monday that had fallen off an overturned truck and rolled into the Willamette River.

The 52-foot white tank, which resembled a submarine without a conning tower, was empty and posed no environmental danger.

It had been floating in the water since Thursday, when it slipped off an eastbound truck on the highway.

Thousands of gallons of water that had seeped inside the tanker complicated the recovery.

Grayson Hart, a contractor from Advanced American Diving of Oregon City, said workers weren't taking any chances with the additional weight.

Hart and his fellow workers attached two slings, suspended from a crane, around the tank. Moving water inside the tank made the load unbalanced, forcing workers to pump the water out before finally lifting it late Monday afternoon from the river.