Woman Leaps From Augusta, Maine Bridge into Kennebec River Thursday Afternoon

It was a terrifying scene in Augusta on Thursday afternoon at the Calumet Bridge that links the city's east and west sides.

According to the Kennebec Journal, emergency officials received calls just before 2pm that a young woman had reportedly jumped from the Calumet Bridge into the freezing waters of the Kennebec River.

The reports of the jumper led to a large response from all area departments including the Augusta Police and Fire Departments. Additionally, Farmingdale and Gardiner crews were called on to have their rescue boats ready to go.

As fire crews were preparing to launch their rescue boats, Wardens from the IF&W building in Augusta, who just happened to be outside and looking at the river, noticed the woman in the water.

Wardens say that it appeared that there was a woman in the water doing the backstroke underneath Memorial Bridge, and she was heading down river pretty quickly due to the aggressive current.

Wardens wasted no time and jumped in their vehicles and proceeded to drive down the Kennebec River Rail Trail in hopes of intercepting the woman before it was too late.

The KJ reports that wardens were able to identify where she might end up and got ahead of her down river. As they did that, the woman was able to make it to the western banks of the Kennebec River and climb her way out of the 30+ degree water.

Wardens stayed with the woman and attempted to warm her up before placing her into an ambulance where she was then taken to Maine General for evaluation.

The Kennebec Journal reports that this all happened so quickly that Augusta Fire never even got their rescue boat into the water before the woman had made it out.

There is no word on her current condition, or her name and age, though we will keep this story updated as more information becomes available to us.