CLACKAMAS, Ore. -- A driver called 9-1-1 for help while perched on top of his partially submerged truck after he veered off the highway and launched 150 feet into the Clackamas River near Carver, authorities said.

Detective Jim Strovink with the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office told KGW that it was quite a sight. "The nose of the truck is facing upriver and the cab of the truck is almost completely submerged, it's probably three-quarters of the way filled with water," he explained.

The ODOT dump truck driver told dispatchers that he blacked out while driving along Highway 224 and somehow ended up flying some 150 feet off a cliff and into the river, Strovink said. The driver managed to scramble out of his sinking truck and called 9-1-1 while sitting on the hood surrounded by water.

"Trees along the highway probably slowed the vehicle down enough that it perhaps saved the driver's life," Strovink said.