Teen Girl Survives Plunge From Golden Gate Bridge

2nd teen in 5 weeks survives bridge fall
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 19, 2011 2:01 AM CDT
Updated Apr 19, 2011 4:40 AM CDT
Teen Girl Survives Plunge From Golden Gate Bridge
The drop from the bridge's central span is 220 feet, a fall very few people survive.   (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

A 16-year-old girl has become the second teen in five weeks to fall from San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge and survive. The Mercury News talks to the family who initially found her, and waited with her until the Coast Guard arrived Sunday morning. Eric Hall, out for a sail with his dad and sons, saw a splash and initially thought it was a whale breaching the water; then he noticed the crowd on the bridge pointing at the water below. When his boat reached her, Hall jumped in the water and swam to the girl. Her face was bloodied, and she was coughing up blood and moaning.

"It looked pretty gruesome," he said. A rep for the California Highway Patrol said the girl is from Southern California and was visiting SF with her family; she reportedly gave her sister a diary containing a suicide note. The rep said she's expected to live, though she suffered a punctured lung, bruised back, and internal bleeding. Only about 2% of people who fall or jump from the bridge survive the 220-foot drop into frigid, fast-moving waters. A 17-year-old boy who jumped last month—allegedly "for kicks"—survived with only minor injuries after he was rescued by a surfer. Click to read that story. (More San Francisco stories.)

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