Elderly Woman Pulled From Chicago River
CHICAGO (STMW) -- Fire Department crews rescued a 79-year-old woman who was trying to commit suicide by jumping into the Chicago River early Friday.
The woman was reported in the water near the Orleans Street bridge just before 1 a.m., fire officials said. Crews arrived at the scene in about two minutes. The water temperature was about 50 degrees.
After she was pulled out, she was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in good condition.
Rescue crews entered the river on the north bank and rescued the woman in a matter of minutes, fire officials said.
Jaime Delgado, a rescue diver for the Chicago Fire Department, pulled the woman to safety.
"She was about in the center" of the river, Delgado said, adding that the woman did not say anything when he swam out to her.
Ken Fryer, a copy editor for Sun-Times Media, was walking across the bridge after leaving work at 350 N. Orleans when he heard several people calling for help.
He broke the glass of a case containing a life preserver on the north side of the river and another person threw it out to the woman.
"It was just her head above water," Fryer said. "Thank God [crews] came here because I don't think she had much left."
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2014. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
