Friday, July 10--Route 50 Bridge Jumper Okay

OCEAN CITY - A local woman who jumped off the Route 50 bridge on Wednesday night was recovered a short time later after a massive multi-agency search and rescue mission found her in the water nearby.

Shortly after 9 p.m. on Wednesday, Maryland State Police troopers from the Berlin barrack responded to the eastbound side of the Route 50 bridge in reference to an alleged suicidal individual who had jumped from the span into the Assawoman Bay. A witness told police an unidentified white female had jumped from the bridge into the water below and was carried north with the current and was no longer in sight.

Maryland State Police (MSP) troopers, along with the U.S. Coast Guard-Ocean City Station, Maryland Natural Resources Police, Ocean City Police, the Ocean City Fire Department, the Worcester County Sheriff's Department, MSP Aviation and the Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA), responded to the area and a massive search effort began.

A short time later, a Coast Guard vessel located the female in the bay just north of the bridge in the area of Hooper's Crab House. The female was conscious and alert and was able to swim toward Coast Guard personnel, who pulled the victim from the water and transported her to the Coast Guard station. MSP troopers than completed a petition for emergency evaluation and Ocean City EMS transported the victim to PRMC in Salisbury and she was under hospital care as of late yesterday.

According to police reports, the victim's intent was suicide. She is described in police reports as a 48-year-old homeless woman.