Leap attempt stalls traffic at bridge
TRAFFIC was stalled at the first Mactan-Mandaue Bridge yesterday morning after a woman in her late 20s attempted to jump into the sea.
The woman, believed to be mentally disturbed, remains unidentified as she refused to give her name.
The negotiation and rescue operations took more than an hour.
One of the rescuers was able to approach the woman who was holding on to the steel railings and get a tight grip of her hand.
Other rescuers immediately passed him a rope which he used to tie the woman’s hands with giving the rescuers leeway in pulling her up.
Pump boats were also on stand by below ready to rescue the woman in the event that she would decide to jump.
It was 7:45 a.m. when the woman was pulled out from the bridge. The crowd cheered the personnel involved in the successful rescue operation.
Heavy traffic caused by vehicles slowing down to gawk had students and employees opting to walk across the bridge.
Henry Heyrosa, a rescuer of the Emergency Rescue Unit Foundation, said the woman was talking about a certain court case and some provisions of the Revised Penal Code.
She resisted when she was rescued, kept shouting foul words and even spit on the rescuers.
The woman, in a black body-fit sleeveless shirt and leggings, is chubby with fair complexion and has long straight hair.
She was brought to the Psychiatric Ward of the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu City./CORRESPONDENT NORMAN V. MENDOZA
