Parents Trying To Cope With Loss Of 3 After Car Plunges Into Canal

SPOKANE - Teresa and Richard Birch always wanted a large family. Now, they're trying to envision a future without three of their six children.

"It's always been a lot of fun - a busy household," Birch said yesterday, in an interview one day after three of his youngsters died in a car accident. "I don't know what it's going to be like around here."

His wife, Teresa, 26, and her six children were returning to Spokane on Saturday after a visit with relatives in Everett when she lost control of her station wagon on Interstate 90 near George, Grant County.

The car struck a guardrail and plunged into a canal, the Washington State Patrol said.

Jonathon David Birch, 5, Katie Lynn Birch, 3, and Jacob William Birch, 3 months, drowned.

"Once we hit the water, the water came in so fast," Teresa Birch said. "I tried to get the power locks, but they wouldn't work under water. I knew I'd have to have them unlocked.

"The current had carried me to the seat behind me. I felt little Matthew grab onto me. I swam out with him, thinking I could get back in."

By the time she surfaced with 2-year-old Matthew, other motorists had stopped to help search for the children.

"Everyone was saying, `Who else is in there?' " she said. "Five babies, I told them."

The current in the canal was so strong that rescuers had to anchor themselves with ropes to reach the car. At least 10 men tried to reach the children and succeeded in saving two.

When Ryan, 7, and Julie, 6, were pulled from the water, they were blue, their mother said.

Other passers-by resuscitated the two children, who had minor injuries, she said.

Despite their grief, the Birches are trying to find the rescuers so they can thank them.

"If they hadn't been there, five of our children would be dead," said Birch, 30.

The Birches were home yesterday, grieving for the dead children. In their four-bedroom house, the children used to bunk two to a room. Each of the surviving children lost a roommate.