A woman in Florida died Sunday after falling from a drawbridge that opened as she walked across.
The incident occurred around 1 p.m. when the woman, who has yet to be identified, walked her bike across the pedestrian lane on the Royal Park Bridge, investigators said.
The bridge opened under her, and she attempted to stay on but was unsuccessful, according to a report.
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“There was a man who tried to help this woman as she was holding on to the elevated bridge, but unfortunately, he was not able to rescue her,” said Mike Jachles, the West Palm Beach Police Department public information officer. “Unfortunately and tragically, she fell, landing about 50-60 feet below, where the mechanical parts to the bridge are, and she died on impact.”
“She had almost reached the end of the bridge, about 10 feet from the end,” he added. “The bridge went up at some point and she tried to hold on and she couldn’t.”
Authorities are working to uncover exactly what happened, why the bridge opened, and who bears responsibility, investigators said.
“There are crossing arms,” Jachles said. “There are warning signs, and there are safety procedures in place for the bridge tenders to follow, with multiple steps and multiple layers of checking to make sure that there are no cars or people on the bridge when it goes up. So that’s all part of the investigation, to determine whether procedure was followed or whether this woman crossed after the signals were down.”
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The bridge was closed around 7 p.m., the report noted.
