Florida Woman Falls To Death After Drawbridge She Was Crossing Opens

A woman fell to her death in Florida after the drawbridge she was crossing with her bicycle was raised even before she could reach the other side.

The unidentified elderly woman fell nearly 60 feet to her death at around 1 p.m. Sunday while walking with her bicycle on the Royal Park Bridge, which connects Palm Beach to the Florida mainland. The woman was just 10 feet away from the end of the drawbridge when it began to rise and she fell through the opening in the road, The Palm Beach Post reported.

"She was walking her bike from east to west and had almost reached the furthest point of the moveable span when it went up," West Palm Beach police spokesman Mike Jachles said, as per the outlet.

The woman reportedly tried to hang onto the bridge while a bystander on the other side of the span tried to pull her to safety. Unfortunately, he lost his grip.

"He tried to help her but he wasn't able to hold onto her and she fell about five to six stories below," Jachles added.

A bridge tender, who is responsible for enforcing safety protocols by lowering the gates for the vehicles and pedestrians after making several visual confirmations that there is nobody at either of the spans or past the gates, was "distraught," according to Jachles. His actions before the span opening will be the focus of the investigation, New York Post reported.

"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," the outlet quoted Jachles as saying.

Meanwhile, it is unclear if the woman crossed the bridge after the safety precautions were taken. Officials said they will be reviewing the surveillance video to understand the circumstances surrounding the incident.

Royal Park Bridge was closed for six hours following the fatal accident.

"Palm Beach is accessible only through three bridges and this is the main bridge, so it's very used by cyclists," Juan Orellana, a bicycle safety advocate, said.